Sarah Chorn's Blog, page 70

A Discussion of Disability in Lock In

Lock In is going to be a hard book for me to talk about. On the one hand, it is a fairly typical if well done police procedural/murder mystery. On the other hand, and probably the part that really made its impact on me, is the fascinating exploration of disability and evolving technology.

It is no secret to anyone who has visited my website that I am very, very interested in the representation of disability in speculative fiction, not just in our books, but in our culture.

I have read a few books this year which have explored the interesting social, cultural and political fluxes that take place when the atypical is pervasive and has a very real, and powerful foothold in the social stream of consciousness. The fact that these books both take place in the very near future, in worlds much like our own make these situations all the more impactful. For example, the situations that lead to the events in Lock In start just fifteen years in the future, but when we meet the characters in the book, legislation has been passed, society has started to evolve, and cultures are rubberbanding against each other in an effort to accommodate, understand, or even in some cases limit.

Readers are given a powerful point of entry into situations that the differently abled in our society are facing on a daily basis. Furthermore, the fact that our protagonist, one Chris Shane, is a ‘threep’ (from C-3P0), not only are readers forced to think about these social issues, but they are thrust into the center of them through a protagonist who has been on the world stage for being a Handens from the time he was two.

Chris Shane is essentially trying to live his life, and dig his way out from under the impressive and weighty shadow of his infamous father. While he might use technology to function normally, he basically just wants to get on with his life and make his career in the FBI a success. The use of threeps, a type of robotic device Hadens use to walk, talk, work and so forth, virtual reality, and integrators (people who let Haden individuals ride in, and control their bodies for a time) are some of the technologies that have arisen to accommodate those locked in so they can still live despite their body’s physical status.

Technology always brings some sort of a backlash along with it, and Scalzi addresses some of these. For example, one person early in the book is referenced as being afraid that the upcoming peaceful protest is going to increase danger in the streets due to the fact that threeps are stronger than actual people, which is quickly and soundly disproven. There are also derogatory slang names for Hadens and threeps, and plenty of discomfort caused by prejudice and misunderstanding.

Of course all things technological are in a constant state of flux, and advances are made that make individuals ask important moral and political questions. For example, if there was a cure for Hadens, would Shane take it? The problem is that the “cure” topic is far more complex than anyone can really address in a few words, and plenty of people have rightfully charged thoughts on the matter. As Shane points out in the novel, his one experience in an integrator’s body left him uncomfortable, and wasn’t pleasant at all. Individuals who became locked in later in life might yearn for a day when their bodies can function normally again.

In our own society, the word “cure” is marched out quite often in the media. The more I research and learn about disability, the more I can start understanding just how supercharged that word can be. On the one hand, there’s this perspective: “if there were a cure for your child that would fundamentally change who he is, would you welcome it?” On the other hand, as a researcher says later in the article, the word “cure” in media the media is often a misnomer, and a rather damaging one at that. Often times these studies that talk about cures are often actually less about the cure, and more about subverting more of the symptoms of a disorder. (Read the whole article here – highly recommended)

Another perspective regarding this:

Ask any wheelchair user, particularly one who’s been in the game a while, and they’ll tell you that they’re far too busy living their life to sit there worrying about whether or not they’ll ever walk. We just get on and do.

Language is powerful, and I’ve addressed that topic before so I feel no need to tread on that ground again. The point is, language can supercharge situations and bring out strong and justified feelings on both sides of whatever line. The word “cure” in the disabled community and the many reactions to it is just one example of the power of language and its potential to divide and upset/please and bring together. And Scalzi addresses that in various forms throughout the novel.

Science fiction and fantasy can be powerful tools that can take readers beyond themselves and think about issues that might not normally touch them. While talk of a “cure” for this or that is often thrown around in the media, I don’t think I’ve seen it addressed quite as poignantly, or memorably as I have in Lock In, or Binary. Words are undeniably powerful. Literature allows us to take notice of things we’d typically not think about by thrusting us in someone’s reality who does.

“Making people change because you can’t deal with who they are isn’t how it’s supposed to be done. What needs to be done is for people to pull their heads out of their asses. You say ‘cure.’ I hear ‘you’re not human enough.’”

– Lock In, John Scalzi

Issues with disability, as addressed in Lock In, go much further than language and the power of words. With the passing of a new law, the Haden community is in some sort of a panic. What happens when government has to pull back from its funding of various disability programs which help those who suffer from it function? Haden patients have a sort of computer in their brain so they can control their threep bodies, and there is talk of how, once the government stops funding some of these companies and research, the poor people may have to sit through a few minutes of advertisements each morning before they can get on with their day, while others will have to pay a monthly subscription or an exorbitant fee to have someone manage their network privately. Furthermore, the virtual reality that many Haden individuals slip into for some solace will also eventually be subscriber based. Should anyone have to watch a few minutes of advertisements before they are allowed to function?

Hadens syndrome wasn’t picky with who it took and who it didn’t. Scalzi addresses the fact that just about every walk of life has suffered from the disease, and everyone will be impacted in one way or another. Much like cancer, this is one of those diseases that the whole family seems deal with. While the protagonist, Shane, is very wealthy and can afford to keep on keeping on with minimal change due to these political upsets, many people can’t. Their lives will be drastically altered and that’s something to think about. One big problem Scalzi addresses is when someone stops taking care of your network, holes appear that allow in hackers, and who wants a hacker in their brain?

Disabilities don’t discriminate in Scalzi’s world, and they don’t in ours either. That’s something to think about, and I’m grateful that Scalzi addressed that.

Technology is always advancing. We have cochlear implants to help the deaf hear, surgeries that can improve eyesight dramatically, and exoskeletons that can help people walk again. Our media talks about cures, and our disabled talk about rights. Words are powerful, and the assistive tools that many disabled use are becoming less cumbersome, more adaptive, and easier to use. We have come leaps and bounds from the years when anyone different was electrocuted in the asylum and sent home drooling. While Scalzi’s situations are all hypothetical, it doesn’t take me much effort to be able to find relatable, very similar situations in our own world.

There are definitive parallel lines between the disabled and their often overlooked opinions regarding their own bodies and lives, and some of the issues that Scalzi raises in his book Lock In. Scalzi doesn’t really give his readers answers, and I think that’s a good thing. He just puts the situations out there, sometimes in the limelight, and sometimes buried a little behind the plot, and lets readers make up their own mind. How would you feel about a cure? Supercharged politics? The rights of threeps? The list goes on and on.

Speculative fiction is a brilliant genre that plays with “what if.” Often these progressive, thought provoking dialogues on issues like disability can cause real world change. It is important to keep books like this in our libraries, on our shelves, in our social stream of awareness. Lock In gave people an insight into a few of the thoughts, struggles, insights, and plights of the disabled in a way very few books have. As for the importance to keep things like this in the genre, I think Corinne Duyvis says it best in this week’s Special needs in Strange Worlds:

SFF features countless heart-wrenching scenes featuring protagonists who decide to “mercy kill” a loved one who underwent a terrible ordeal. It’s meant as a poignant, tragic show of compassion and mercy. The characters will give reasons like: “They can’t even talk.” “They’re drooling.” “They’re not the same person they used to be.” “They wouldn’t have wanted this.” “They can’t even look after themselves.” “It’s unnatural keeping them alive like this.”

What does that imply about the millions of disabled people who fit those descriptions?

Similar problems arise with other parallels. Characters may be disrespected, treated as burdens, or wallow in their own misery in ways that echo problematic portrayals of disabled people. For all the interesting questions tackled in SFF, I wish I saw more questions of informed consent. Or questions of treatment, of assistive tools, of accommodations, of community. Characters rarely adapt to their situation and move on with their life to the best of their ability.

While I don’t think disability metaphors are sufficient disability representation, I do think that they’ll come up naturally in many texts, and that they’re relevant to the discussion of disability in SFF. For authors, it’s important to be true to their plot, their world, and their characters … but it’s also important to consider how their narrative may resonate with and impact disabled readers.

Last week I got an email from someone who reads my column which said:

There is a pervasive belief that the disabled struggle because disability is negative. No one seems to realize that a lot of the reason why we struggle is a reflection of society’s failure to accommodate our needs. I see this a lot in SFF books through disabled characters being pushed aside and marginalized, overlooked and forgotten about.

That quote has stuck with me throughout reading Lock In, because, in some ways, this seems to be that one book that dares to intimately address some of the common issues so few of us actually think about, that mean so much to those we tend to overlook. Lock In takes a world impacted by a disability that there is absolutely no chance of overlooking, and makes readers see what an impact it would have on the politics, the dialogue, the technology, and the individual spirit. Humanity would change, undoubtably. Kind of interesting to see just what those changes might entail when there’s no chance of overlooking or avoiding.

These situations are happening all around us, all the time. Scalzi was bold enough to write about it. Politics, technology, social norms, cultural clashes aren’t just part of Lock In. They are all around us.

Is this the book that everyone will agree with? No, of course not. Will it please everyone? No, but art is fluid like that. However, it dares to go where so few books go, and I sincerely hope it is the tip of the iceberg. It will make readers think, and see things differently, and that is a huge success. More importantly, books like this give me hope. When a powerful voice like Scalzi writes a book that illuminates many of the concerns the disabled today face, I have to applaud. Thank you, John Scalzi, for bringing this incredibly important issue to light for so many. I sincerely hope that this is just the start. Someday, perhaps, books like this won’t be so unusual.

One can only hope.

[Guest Post] Max Gladstone on Halloween and Identity

Max Gladstone has taught in southern Anhui, wrecked a bicycle in Angkor Wat, and been thrown from a horse in Mongolia.  Max graduated from Yale University, where he studied Chinese. Max’s novel Three Parts Dead was published by Tor Books in October 2012.  Two Serpents Rise, the next book in the Craft Sequence, is due out in October 2013. You can learn more about the author by visiting his website, or following him on Twitter.

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Happy Halloween, goblins and ghouls!

 

Halloween’s a great weird and increasingly necessary holiday; among other things, it’s our internationally recognized mad foray into identity experimentation.  As human beings, we spend much of our days banging against systems designed to lock us into a single identity: the table where we eat lunch in high school, the baseball team we follow, the politicians we support, the church we attend, the books we read, the people we’re interested in sleeping with, the gender we describe ourselves as performing.  The internet has made this battle much more complicated by encouraging, and almost requiring, the performance of and participation in fixed identities in order to function online.

To expand on that last point: there are lots of ways for someone to be, say, a meatspace Christian.  Find a random physical church and talk to the attendees, and if you breach a narrow range of pre-determined talking points you’ll find a pretty wide range of beliefs and political positions. Membership of the community is determined, at least in part, by who shows up.  (And who’s accepted by the pre-existing community as a member of the community, etc.)  A random parishioner may disagree with the priest or preacher about most points of theology, without ever once communicating this disagreement.  Some parishioners may leave if the disagreement grows extreme, but others will stay, because their friends are in church, because this is the closest church to their house, because their grandmother attended mass here every Sunday for thirty years, etc. In the physical world, mere occupation of space can impart a sort of identity.

But on the internet, you don’t exist if you’re not talking, and you aren’t assumed to have any identity unless you say you do.  People proclaiming a particular identity use different rhetorical tools than people who possess that identity but don’t actively proclaim it.  Proclamations of identity tend to involve cultural shibboleths: reciting the Nicine Creed if you wish to be seen as a Christian, talking about learning to play Dungeons and Dragons as a zit-faced teenager if you wish to be seen as a nerd.  But cultural shibboleths can easily become requirements that people participating in a community conform to a certain orthodoxy—which can get dangerous fast.  Proclaimed identities become traps, or weapons. People can find themselves carried along by associations and alliances they never meant to form.  Our very self-proclaimed identities can betray us.

So: Halloween.  Here’s a holiday where we all get to become the things we fear.  We have license for a brief span to step outside the orthodoxies that constrain us: to peel off the faces riveted onto our skull.  This is a day for becoming something bigger than “good.”  This is a day to understand the skeleton’s angle, to get where the goblin’s coming from.

And to eat a lot of chocolate.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

The Broken Road – Teresa Frohock

About the Book

The world of Lehbet is under siege. The threads that divide Lehbet from the mirror world of Heled are fraying, opening the way for an invasion by an alien enemy that feeds on human flesh.

Travys, the youngest of the queen’s twin sons, was born mute. He is a prince of the Chanteuse, nobles who channel their magic through their voices. Their purpose is to monitor the threads and close the paths between the worlds, but the Chanteuse have given themselves over to decadence. They disregard their responsibilities to the people they protect—all but Travys, who fears he’ll fail to wake the Chanteuse to Heled’s threat in time to prevent the destruction of Lehbet.

Within the palace, intrigue creates illusions of love where there is none, and when Travys’ own brother turns against him, he is forced to flee all that he has known and enter the mirror world of Heled where the enemy has already won. In Heled, he must find his true voice and close the threads, or lose everyone that he loves.

105 pages (ebook)

Published on September 21, 2014

Author’s webpage

Buy the book

I purchased this book to read and review.

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Novellas are hard for me to review because novellas are, by nature, short. A good novella will usually make me mad because I won’t want said novella to be novella length. A great novella will make me forget that it’s a novella and I will be incredibly Hulk-like upset when it is over, usually saying, “Well, son of a bitch. I forgot this was 100 pages. Writing something this good that lasts 100 pages is cruel and unusual punishment. Don’t we have rules against torture in the Geneva Conventions?”

That’s pretty much a direct quote from when I finished The Broken Road, after having forgotten that I was reading a 100 page novella.

Usually I try to avoid reading novellas for that very reason. I don’t like entering weird HULK SMASH mindsets due to the length of a book I read. However, Teresa Frohock wrote The Broken Road, and after reading a lot of her work, I’ve learned that she’s an author that makes me sit down, shut up, and pay attention.

The problem I often have with novellas is that they are so short. Unless they are already tied to a world or story I’m familiar with, I think the length of them really limits authors in regards to their ability to fully create a dynamic world and the people in it.

Enter Teresa Frochock, the woman who manages to somehow build an entire world, charged political system, complex characters, and an attempted coup of the government into 100 pages. If authors had superpowers, hers would be, well, writing. The Broken Road proves how much a person can pack into a novella if a writer carefully crafts their story. Not only are all those elements in the novella, but they are all believable, and fleshed out in such a way that it made me forget I was reading a novella.

The protagonist, Travys, is a character that is easy to like. He is earnest and honestly wants what is best for his kingdom, and during the first bit of the book he is absolutely and obviously ignorant that anything dark or mysterious is happening around him. His ignorance regarding the upheaval he is about to face is a fantastic tool that Frohock uses to put her readers on the same footing as Travys. Travys is a nice balance of elements that could easily hold him back against the internal strength of a giant. Furthermore, it was quite delightful to see how Frohock used those aspects of Travys’s character that could hold him back as a strength against the struggles he faced. For example, his ignorance regarding the situation that had been developing around him kept him from prejudging everything that was happening, which gave him fresh eyes to see into the heart of the matter. Furthermore, his ignorance regarding the wider and deeper political and personal problems rising up around him is the fundamental reason why the reader and Travys have the exact same amount of information throughout the book. It’s quite fun to discover what is happening as it is happening.

The ruling class has become corrupt through decadence and a high lifestyle, and everyone else is becoming more and more marginalized and impoverished. Historically this has happened before, many times, the most notorious incident would be the French Revolution, “Let them eat cake!” and all that. This situation is no stranger to us, but it is a rife backdrop to insert a fantastic, poignant mystery and a rather quick coming-of-age tale as one man battles against everything he didn’t know he knew to do what is right.

The plot moves at an incredibly fast pace, as it has to with a novella of this length. There is a ton of ground covered, and I was absolutely amazed by just how many twists and turns Frohock could pack into 100 pages. Some of them I expected, but others really blew me away. There is a nicely balanced mixture of magic, political corruption, class struggle. All of that, combined with the big baddie that Travys is learning about, and facing, adds up to a nice mystery that can, at times, be pretty creepy as well as thought provoking.

The magic system absolutely fantastic, and Frohock manages to use it in conjunction with the mystery incredibly well. Furthermore, novel isn’t about just one world, but it’s about parallel planes of existence, and Travys ventures from one into the other and back again. Talk about ambitious in a novel. It’s incredibly impressive how Frohock crafted such an intricate plot, world, and magic system in the short amount of pages she used, and she managed to do it all in such a way that it felt effortless and incredibly natural. There were no infodumps or points where I thought, “Well, I bet this would be explained better in a longer novel where the author has more time.” No, Frohock built this incredible, detailed, complex world and she managed to do it in 100 pages.

I’m honestly amazed by that.

The Broken Road is one of those novellas that made me absolutely furious because it ended. And I’m pretty sure that’s the first time I have ever said something like that about a novella. It’s short and sweet and has the same emotional pull, well crafted characters, complex and surprising plot, and intricate, believable world as anything I’d find in a novel. The Broken Road shows just what novellas can achieve under the care of a master level wordsmith.

Delicious dark fantasy and an unforgettable journey through an unforgettable world, what isn’t to love?

 

5/5 stars

Premonitions – Jamie Schultz

About the Book

TWO MILLION DOLLARS…  

It’s the kind of score Karyn Ames has always dreamed of—enough to set her crew up pretty well and, more important, enough to keep her safely stocked on a very rare, very expensive black market drug. Without it, Karyn hallucinates slices of the future until they totally overwhelm her, leaving her unable to distinguish the present from the mess of certainties and possibilities yet to come.

The client behind the heist is Enoch Sobell, a notorious crime lord with a reputation for being ruthless and exacting—and a purported practitioner of dark magic. Sobell is almost certainly condemned to Hell for a magically extended lifetime full of shady dealings. Once you’re in business with him, there’s no backing out.

Karyn and her associates are used to the supernatural and the occult, but their target is more than just the usual family heirloom or cursed necklace. It’s a piece of something larger. Something sinister.

Karyn’s crew, and even Sobell himself, are about to find out just how powerful it is… and how powerful it may yet become.

384 pages (paperback)

Published on July 1, 2014

Published by Roc

Author’s webpage

Buy the book

This book was sent for me to review by the author.

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I really am not that into heist books, or urban fantasy. However, I am into books where authors create characters that are morally gray, and that’s exactly what the characters in Premonitions are. None of the characters are good, and none of them are evil. They all have their own reasons for doing what they are doing. That’s the kind of book I absolutely dig.

On the one hand, Premonitions really wasn’t my bag. On the other hand, I was incredibly excited to read it. Books that polarize me like that also tend to get me a bit excited due to curiosity if nothing else, so I sank my teeth into this one as soon as it showed up on my doorstep, and I finished reading it just before my surgery, and the poor author has been patiently waiting for my review until now.

Premonitions is 384 pages, which is fairly typical for an urban fantasy, however it is absolutely loaded with perspectives, perhaps a few too many perspectives for a novel of this length. However, it works. Each character is different, and the switch between characters illuminates their different perspectives and desires. Karyn is the most interesting character. She leads the crew, has strong opinions and a past to back them up.

Karyn, however, has an interesting condition where she can see slices of the future almost randomly. These can overwhelm her without a drug to ease the symptoms. Karyn was one character that I really got behind. It’s fantastic to see such a strong, capable, believable woman without her using sex or a curvy body to attain those things that she is looking to attain. Karyn fights for what she wants, and she does it claws. That ferocity is nicely coupled with her intelligence and her ability to see into the heart of the matter at hand. However, her strengths are balanced by her condition which, in some situations is a serious strength, but in others it is a burden that she will carry for the rest of her life. It’s a struggle, and it holds her back as much as lifts it up.

It is very refreshing to encounter such a strong, capable character who is held back by such a profound problem. Furthermore, Schultz writes Karyn’s perspective in such a way that her struggle will certainly evoke raw, real emotions from the reader. Her inability to often distinguish between future and present can get confusing, but it also shows her struggle in a way that readers will understand and sympathize with. In short, Karyn’s perspectives are very effective.

The other perspectives are Anna, Karyn’s best friend, Nail, another member of the gang who brings the whoop-ass. Then there’s Tommy, who is eccentric and rather mysterious and practices dark magic. Then there is Genevieve who acts as a liaison between the gang and Enoch Sobell (another interesting perspective that is somewhat hard to pin down), the man who hired them to get this occult artifact.

As you can see, that’s a lot of perspectives in one fairly short novel. While usually the change between characters is smooth, and each character truly does have their own unique voice so it is easy to keep them apart, sometimes I did feel that the sheer number of perspectives occasionally bogged the plot down and made it flow a little slower in some places than in others, and could clutter things up at certain points.

The plot itself is incredibly fast moving and full of plenty of twists and turns, made possible in large part by the multiple perspectives and the rather gray feel to all of the characters. It’s quite fun to read a novel and try to figure out who is on which side of what line. Mixed into that are all sorts of shenanigans that are quite entertaining in the face of all the thought provoking character developments that go on.

Something I really must address is just how brave Schultz was, in many ways, for writing this book. Premonitions features strong female leads, a woman-woman love interest, and a conditions which is absolutely disabling. In a genre that strives for believable diversity in its book, Premonitions is a roaring success, and I really applaud Schultz for writing it.

Urban fantasy is a genre I struggle with, but Schultz really did a great job at jazzing it up a bit and flooding it with memorable characters. Premonitions is a book I didn’t expect to like it, and I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to read it, but I’m glad I did. It’s a delightfully diverse book, with a fast paced, poignant plot, and enough action and adventure to keep just about any reader happy. While there might be a few too many perspectives, and it does occasionally bog things down, that is a very small complaint in the face of so much done so well.

In sort, Premonitions surprised me in the most delightful way.

 

4/5 stars

Books I’m Eyeing

Due to surgery and life it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. I don’t have much to report that wasn’t already reported here. I was interviewed on the Adventures in SciFi Publishing Podcast, which is live. You can listen to me geek out for about an hour here. I talk about all sorts of stuff – why I review, what I look for in books, tips for authors contacting reviewers, why a lot of epic fantasy isn’t doing it for me anymore, some issues reviewers (myself mostly) might face, and a lot more. Almost a month ago I was also interviewed on The Functional Nerds. You can listen to that one here.

For an update on my Discworld reading, today I plan to start the third book in the Rincewind Series called Sourcery.  I’ve enjoyed the first two immensely and I look forward to this next installment. I never thought that luggage could be hilarious, and Death, though his appearances are few and far between, is quickly turning into one of my favorite characters.

So, onto Books I’m Eyeing. Since it’s been so very long since I’ve been clear headed (yay surgery), I’m sure there’s a lot I’ve missed. What books are you eyeing? What books should I eye that I’ve missed?

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The Red Magician – Lisa Goldstein 

Discovery blamed on: Bibliotropic

About the Book

Winner of the 1983 American Book Award, The Red Magician was an immediate classic.

On the eve of World War II, a wandering magician comes to a small Hungarian village prophesying death and destruction. Eleven-year-old Kicsi believes Vörös, and attempts to aid him in protecting the village.

But the local rabbi, who possesses magical powers, insists that the village is safe, and frustrates Vörös’s attempts to transport them all to safety. Then the Nazis come and the world changes.

Miraculously, Kicsi survives the horrors of the concentration camp and returns to her village to witness the final climactic battle between the rabbi and the Red Magician, the Old World and the New.

The Red Magician is a notable work of Holocaust literature and a distinguished work of fiction, as well as a marvelously entertaining fantasy that is, in the end, wise and transcendent.

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We Are Not Good People – Jeff Somers

Discovery blamed on: My Bookish Ways

About the Book

From the “exhilarating, powerful, and entertaining” (Guardian) storyteller of the Avery Cates series comes a gritty supernatural thriller featuring a pair of unlikely heroes caught up in the underground world of blood magic.

The ethics in a world of blood are gray—and an underground strata of blood magicians has been engineering disasters for centuries in order to acquire enough fuel for their spells. They are not good people.

Some practitioners, however, use the Words and a swipe of the blade to cast simpler spells, such as Charms and Cantrips to gas up $1 bills so they appear to be $20s. Lem Vonnegan and his sidekick Mags fall into this level of mage, hustlers and con men all. Lem tries to be ethical by using only his own blood, by not using Bleeders or “volunteers.” But it makes life hard. Soon they might have to get honest work.

When the pair encounters a girl who’s been kidnapped and marked up with magic runes for a ritual spell, it’s clear they’re in over their heads. Turning to Lem’s estranged master for help, they are told that not only is the girl’s life all but forfeit, but that the world’s preeminent mage, Mika Renar, has earth-shattering plans for her—and Lem just got in the way. With the fate of the world on the line, and Lem both spooked and intrigued by the mysterious girl, the other nominates him to become the huckleberry who’ll take down Renar. But even if he, Mags, and the simpletons who follow him prevail, they’re dealing with the kind of power that doesn’t understand defeat, or mercy.

Book One in the Ustari Cycle, the first portion of We Are Not Good People was originally published in an altered form as Trickster (Pocket Books).

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The Mysteries – Lisa Tuttle

Discovery blamed on: Over The Effing Rainbow

About the Book

From award-winning author Lisa Tuttle comes a riveting novel that combines the contemporary story of one man’s search for a missing young woman with history’s most enduring legends of the disappeared. Gripping and unforgettable, here is a spellbinding mix of the mysteries that inhabit our everyday lives–and a mind-bending exploration of what happens when someone vanishes without a trace.

Ever since his father disappeared when he was nine years old, Ian Kennedy has had a penchant for stories about missing people–and a knack for finding them. Now he’s a private investigator with an impressive track record. But when a woman enters his London office and asks him to find her lost daughter, Ian faces a case he fears he cannot solve–and one he knows he must.

Laura Lensky’s stunning twenty-one-year-old daughter, Peri, has been missing for over two years–a lifetime, under the circumstances. But when Ian learns the details of her disappearance, he discovers eerie parallels to an obscure Celtic myth–and to the haunting case that launched his career, an early success he’s never fully been able to explain. Though Ian suspects Peri may have chosen to vanish, his curiosity leads him to take on the search. Soon he finds himself drawing not only from the mysteries that have preoccupied his adulthood, but from the fables and folklore that pervaded his youth. What follows is a journey that takes Ian and those who care for Peri into the Highlands of Scotland, as the unknowns of the past and present merge in the case–and in their lives.

Rich in pathos and steeped in secrets, The Mysteries opens a thought-provoking door from one world into the heart of another, where some of our most perplexing enigmas–and their answers–are startlingly alive.

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Servants of the Storm – Delilah S. Dawson

Discovery blamed on: SFF World (Rob Bedford)

About the Book

A year ago Hurricane Josephine swept through Savannah, Georgia, leaving behind nothing but death and destruction — and taking the life of Dovey’s best friend, Carly. Since that night, Dovey has been in a medicated haze, numb to everything around her.

But recently she’s started to believe she’s seeing things that can’t be real … including Carly at their favorite cafe. Determined to learn the truth, Dovey stops taking her pills. And the world that opens up to her is unlike anything she could have imagined.

As Dovey slips deeper into the shadowy corners of Savannah — where the dark and horrifying secrets lurk — she learns that the storm that destroyed her city and stole her friend was much more than a force of nature. And now the sinister beings truly responsible are out to finish what they started.

Dovey’s running out of time and torn between two paths. Will she trust her childhood friend Baker, who can’t see the threatening darkness but promises to never give up on Dovey and Carly? Or will she plot with the sexy stranger, Isaac, who offers all the answers — for a price? Soon Dovey realizes that the danger closing in has little to do with Carly … and everything to do with Dovey herself.

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Ink – Sabrina Vourvoulias

Discovery blamed on: Recommended Reading by Professionals on SF Signal

About the Book

What happens when rhetoric about immigrants escalates to an institutionalized population control system? The near-future, dark speculative novel INK opens as a biometric tattoo is approved for use to mark temporary workers, permanent residents and citizens with recent immigration history – collectively known as inks. Set in a fictional city and small, rural town in the U.S. during a 10-year span, the novel is told in four voices: a journalist; an ink who works in a local population control office; an artist strongly tied to a specific piece of land; and a teenager whose mother runs an inkatorium (a sanitarium-internment center opened in response to public health concerns about inks). The main characters grapple with ever-changing definitions of power, home and community; relationships that expand and complicate their lives; personal magicks they don’t fully understand; and perceptions of “otherness” based on ethnicity, language, class and inclusion. In this world, the protagonists’ magicks serve and fail, as do all other systems – government, gang, religious organization – until only two things alone stand: love and memory.

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The End of the Sentence – Maria Dahvana Headley & Kat Howard

Discovery blamed on – The Speculate Scotsman

About the Book

It begins with a letter from a prisoner…

As he attempts to rebuild his life in rural Oregon after a tragic accident, Malcolm Mays finds himself corresponding with Dusha Chuchonnyhoof, a mysterious entity who claims to be the owner of Malcolm’s house, jailed unjustly for 117 years. The prisoner demands that Malcolm perform a gory, bewildering task for him. As the clock ticks toward Dusha’s release, Malcolm must attempt to find out whether he’s assisting a murderer or an innocent. The End of the Sentence combines Kalapuya, Welsh, Scottish and Norse mythology, with a dark imagined history of the hidden corners of the American West.

Maria Dahvana Headley and Kat Howard have forged a fairytale of ghosts and guilt, literary horror blended with the visuals of Jean Cocteau, failed executions, shapeshifting goblins, and magical blacksmithery. In Chuchonnyhoof, they’ve created a new kind of Beast, longing, centuries later, for Beauty.

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The Young Elites – Marie Lu

Discovery blamed on – Fantasy Book Critic

About the Book

I am tired of being used, hurt, and cast aside.

Adelina Amouteru is a survivor of the blood fever. A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings. Adelina’s black hair turned silver, her lashes went pale, and now she has only a jagged scar where her left eye once was. Her cruel father believes she is a malfetto, an abomination, ruining their family’s good name and standing in the way of their fortune. But some of the fever’s survivors are rumored to possess more than just scars—they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts, and though their identities remain secret, they have come to be called the Young Elites.

Teren Santoro works for the king. As Leader of the Inquisition Axis, it is his job to seek out the Young Elites, to destroy them before they destroy the nation. He believes the Young Elites to be dangerous and vengeful, but it’s Teren who may possess the darkest secret of all.

Enzo Valenciano is a member of the Dagger Society. This secret sect of Young Elites seeks out others like them before the Inquisition Axis can. But when the Daggers find Adelina, they discover someone with powers like they’ve never seen.

Adelina wants to believe Enzo is on her side, and that Teren is the true enemy. But the lives of these three will collide in unexpected ways, as each fights a very different and personal battle. But of one thing they are all certain: Adelina has abilities that shouldn’t belong in this world. A vengeful blackness in her heart. And a desire to destroy all who dare to cross her.

It is my turn to use. My turn to hurt

[Guest Review by Melanie R. Meadors] Incarnate – Anton Strout

About the Book

HITTING ROCK BOTTOM

When Alexandra Belarus discovered her family’s secret ability to breathe life into stone, she uncovered an entire world of magic hidden within New York City—a world she has accidentally thrown into chaos. A spell gone awry has set thousands of gargoyles loose upon Manhattan, and it’s up to Lexi and her faithful protector, Stanis, to put things right.

But the stress of saving the city is casting a pall over Lexi and Stanis’s relationship, driving them to work separately to solve the problem. As Stanis struggles to unite the gargoyle population, Lexi forges unlikely alliances with witches, alchemists and New York’s Finest to quell an unsettling uprising led by an ancient and deadly foe long thought vanquished.

To save her city, Lexi must wield more power than ever before with the added hope of recovering a mysterious artifact that could change her world—and bring her closer to Stanis than she ever thought possible…

320 pages (Paperback)

Published on September 30, 2014

Published by Ace

Author’s website

Buy the book

Huge thanks to Melanie Meadors for taking time out of her busy schedule to write this review for me.

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Incarnate is the third and final installment of the Spellmason Chronicles (preceded by Alchemystic and Stonecast). I always have a hard time reviewing third books because so much has happened before them and I don’t want to spoil anything for potential readers. But let me just say this: with Incarnate, I think Strout definitely proves himself to be a strong player in the urban fantasy genre. 

When I read Stonecast, the second book in the trilogy, I thought it was a strong book and had commented that Strout had found his stride. So often, many authors kind of slip with the middle of their second series, but Stonecast just took on a life of its own while I was reading it. There was so much action and I really loved the characters. Now, with Incarnate, I found it to be all that and more. 

Alexandra, one of the two narrating characters, has such a strong voice and is so well developed it was easy to forget I was reading a book by a person outside of the story. Events in the book played out in my mind like a fast-paced movie, yet there was a lot of emotion at play here as well. I had to stop myself from laughing out loud several times so I wouldn’t wake up the family while I read at night, yet the humor is very nicely balanced with suspense and mystery. Come for the geeky entertainment–there is PLENTY to go around, with nods to practically every corner of the geekiverse, from gaming, to TV shows I have fond memories of growing up, to books that should be loved by everyone. But stay for the emotional kick you’ll get from watching the relationships between the characters grow and change. This is a story I found hard to finish–not because it was hard to read but because I truly did not want this to be the end. I didn’t want to close it when I was done, and honestly, got a little teary at the thought of not being able to go on new adventures with Lexi, Stanis, Rory, Marshall, and Caleb.

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review)

Ancillary Sword – Ann Leckie

About the Book

What if you once had thousands of bodies and near god-like technology at your disposal?



And what if all of it were ripped away? 

The Lord of the Radch has given Breq command of the ship Mercy of Kalr and sent her to the only place she would have agreed to go — to Athoek Station, where Lieutenant Awn’s sister works in Horticulture.

Athoek was annexed some six hundred years ago, and by now everyone is fully civilized — or should be. But everything is not as tranquil as it appears. Old divisions are still troublesome, Athoek Station’s AI is unhappy with the situation, and it looks like the alien Presger might have taken an interest in what’s going on. With no guarantees that interest is benevolent.

359 pages (paperback)

Published on October 7, 2014

Published by Orbit

Author’s webpage

Buy the book

This book was sent for me to review by the publisher.

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After the roaring success of Ancillary Justice (which won just about every literary award that was gently nudged in its direction), Ancillary Sword had a lot to live up to. It doesn’t quite have the same impact and dramatic punch as its predecessor, but it is just as impressive in its own somewhat quieter way.

It is absolutely essential that you read Ancillary Justice before you read Ancillary Sword. While Ancillary Justice had many memorable and challenging themes, like gender identity, Ancillary Sword deals with themes that are just as important and thought provoking, just a little quieter than its predecessor. In fact I tended to feel that the way Leckie dealt with her rather deep themes in this installment of her series made a bigger impact on me than I expected. 

Ancillary Sword takes off right after Ancillary Justice ends. Breq is different now, and while half the punch of the previous book was learning about events and life as an ancillary, in this second book Breq is all alone and learning how to be alone. There is a keen sense of loss that I felt throughout Ancillary Justice as Breq is learning how to be one person, and relatively limited, than many people and incredibly powerful.

Breq’s current individual status verses her multiple AI personality we knew in the previous book gives readers an interesting insight into the world she’s navigating. She understands what it is like to be an ancillary better than just about anyone. These little bits of insight, the ability for her to connect and relate to the ancillaries that almost no one but her seems to understand, gives readers an important view of characters in science fiction that we don’t typically get an insight into – the AI kind.

This nicely leads me into what I enjoyed most about the book. It was incredibly personal, a real emotional struggle of one woman trying to find a way to find herself when she’s been irrevocably changed. How she deals with the people on her crew, especially Lieutenant Tisarwat, is very telling. Furthermore, her understanding of being an ancillary makes the struggle between the Lord of Radch and various other parts of herself incredibly dynamic. In so many ways readers are getting to know Breq, this new Breq, as she is getting to know herself. Throw in all of the political turmoil of the times, and you have something truly remarkable in your hands. Breq goes through a lot of very personal, very quiet struggles that she keeps hidden from others pretty well. It’s a fantastic study of very intimate character development and evolution, and Leckie handles it masterfully.

Ancillary Sword was a very interesting exploration of humanity, and just what makes a person a person. Mixed into this are civilizations clashing, and a wonderful examination of just what makes the civilized, civilized. There is a lot here for readers to enjoy, not the least of which is how Leckie deals with these incredibly intense, rather deep themes and the surprising places she goes with them. Breq’s status in the leadership, as well as who she was verses who she is makes all of these themes even more intense and poignant.

The perspective of the novel is very focused and even, at times, feels limited. While that can usually be considered a negative in a novel, in Ancillary Sword it is a positive in a big way. Leckie uses Breq’s limited perspective as a tool to make many of her insights, her character growth, and the events she finds herself in the center of that much more memorable for her readers. It’s easier to understand how Breq is struggling to come to terms with herself, since readers are limited, and struggling, as well. This style of writing, of getting to know Breq as Breq is getting to know Breq is in is a very powerful way that Leckie manages to put readers in her protagonist’s shoes and manages to be an incredible effective way to tell a story.

The plot moves pretty quickly, and the writing is just as intense and attention-grabbing as it was in the previous book, if a bit more polished. Some of the plot threads were a touch heavy handed, and Ancillary Sword does have a middle-of-the-series feel to it. A lot of it is drawn out and expanded upon, while very few questions are answered or even moderately resolved. That’s okay, though, because the book itself is so compelling, emotional, and intense that the flaws, small as they are, are easy to overlook.

Leckie’s star is still burning bright, and her talent seems to know no bounds. I truly appreciate authors who have the ability to make readers think and examine things differently. Ancillary Sword was deeply emotional, and incredibly personal. The writing was fluid and flawless, and the themes are important, not just in the scope of the story being told, but also for everyone reading the book. A successful science fiction novel has the ability to change how its readers look at the world around them and the people in it differently. In this respect, despite its small flaws, Ann Leckie succeeds in leaps and bounds. Emotional, intense, raw and poignant, Ancillary Sword is one of those novels that will stick with me for quite a while.

 

4/5 stars

The Accidental Highwayman – Ben Tripp

About the Book

The Accidental Highwayman is the first swashbuckling adventure for young adults by talented author and illustrator, Ben Tripp. This thrilling tale of dark magic and true love is the perfect story for fans of William Goldman’s The Princess Bride.

In eighteenth-century England, young Christopher “Kit” Bristol is the unwitting servant of notorious highwayman Whistling Jack. One dark night, Kit finds his master bleeding from a mortal wound, dons the man’s riding cloak to seek help, and changes the course of his life forever. Mistaken for Whistling Jack and on the run from redcoats, Kit is catapulted into a world of magic and wonders he thought the stuff of fairy tales.

Bound by magical law, Kit takes up his master’s quest to rescue a rebellious fairy princess from an arranged marriage to King George III of England. But his task is not an easy one, for Kit must contend with the feisty Princess Morgana, gobling attacks, and a magical map that portends his destiny: as a hanged man upon the gallows….

Fans of classic fairy-tale fantasies such as Stardust by Neil Gaiman and will find much to love in this irresistible YA debut by Ben Tripp, the son of one of America’s most beloved illustrators, Wallace Tripp (Amelia Bedelia). Following in his father’s footsteps, Ben has woven illustrations throughout the story.

304 pages (hardcover)

Published by Tor

Published on October 14, 2014

Buy the book

This book was sent for me to review by the publisher.

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This is the first novel I’ve read by Ben Tripp. It’s also the first time I have received author art in the book I got from the publisher for review. I’m not a huge fan of young adult books, so I put this one off until I saw the signed author artwork. Then that got me excited and I started reading it.

You know what? I was pleasantly surprised.

The Accidental Highwayman is a rather charming tale of a young man thrust into a situation he doesn’t understand in a world that is far more complex and layered than he expected it to be. Parallels between this book and The Princess Bride are perfectly accurate. Written in an easy style that reads like you’d expect a rather accessible fairytale to read, The Accidental Highwayman is one of those rare jewels that will suck you in quickly, and leave you aching for the next book in the series.

Kit Bristol is a sort of everyman for the 18th century in England. He works hard and barely gets buy, having been rescued from a life of poverty, begging, and performing by his master Whistling Jack. Kit is impossible to hate. Readers will instantly warm up to him. He has an easy way about him. He’s easy to understand, and his voice is personable enough that when he’s explaining aspects of society that readers might not understand, you’ll never really feel beat over the head with it.

Kit ends up a highwayman quite by accident, which makes the title of this book absolutely accurate. The fact that he ends up in that profession accidentally leads to some quite interesting and rather well executed moral quandaries that many young people will relate to, and even more will sympathize with. He’s a character that grows – his life demands that from him, and Tripp thought out his character growth quite well.

As I mentioned above, this book drops some words and cultural practices, both fae and actual historical cultural points – that readers might not be familiar with. There are footnotes scattered throughout the book which elaborate and illuminate. While The Accidental Highwayman was a lot of fun to read, the footnotes are also quite educational, and the blend of “real” and “fae” details make them not just educational but also a lot of fun. It’s rather rare that I find a book that balances the fun and educational aspects so well. It’s obvious that Tripp did his research, and it’s even more obvious that he sincerely cared about how his informative facts would be received by readers.

The plot moves very quickly and is full of a ton of action and adventure. While some of the plot elements feel a little less than unique, they are balanced nicely by the unique elements, and the absolutely fantastic writing. Also, lets not forget to mention the incredible illustrations sprinkled throughout the book. While some of the events do feel a little glossed over, and others might take a little too long, they all work together to create the sort of book that appeals to adults and the younger young adult crowd as well.

The Accidental Highwayman has everything you’d want in a book of this sort, complete with a fairy princess. While the secondary characters don’t feel as fleshed out as the main characters, readers won’t really mind. This isn’t a book about the people who travel along with Kit. This is a book about Kit and the writing reflects that. The magical aspect of the world is flawlessly inserted, and done in such a way that it feels natural and believable. Tripp shows the clashing of cultures and how a complex world like the one he created would impact an unsuspecting person.

There are some books that the author wrote with obvious love, and this is one of them. I can just tell that Tripp had a great time writing this one, drawing the pictures, adding the footnotes and doing research. The Accidental Highwayman book didn’t feel like a homework assignment to read. It was a lot of fun and swept me off my feet. While it does have some issues here and there, they aren’t prominent enough to really bother me in the least. I can’t wait for more of Kit and company. Tripp’s enthusiasm for this book was infectious. It bled into me as I read, and I’m glad it did. I needed to be swept off my feet, and this book did just that.

 

4/5 stars

My epic post-surgery update

As you have probably realized, these past few weeks my website has been flooded with (very kind) people who were willing to write guest posts or guest reviews for me. The reason is because I’ve been recovering from my surgery. I don’t go back to work until November 4, and the doctor won’t see me until October 30, at which point I’m sincerely hoping he’ll let me use my right arm again.

The surgery itself went pretty well. They took out my tendons in my shoulder and replaced them with cadaver tendons. I spent a night in the hospital and then came home and threw up for a few days. I lost about twelve pounds in two weeks because that’s just how surgery rolls with me. I hate it, but after eleven of them, I know the drill. My cadaver tendons look to be holding up well, but there is some question as to whether fixing the front of my shoulder screwed up the back of it, so I’m on even more limited restrictions (my doctor wouldn’t even let me go back to work early with accommodation and I can’t move my right arm at all, and I have to sleep in weird positions with rolled towels in uncomfortable places to keep things stable and blah blah blah blah blah). My right arm movement is even more restricted than normal in hopes that really stiffening up my shoulder will fix whatever is causing the bones in the back of my joint to grind.

It’s lovely. Really. (/sarcasm font)

My website has only been functioning due to the grace and kindness of people who have been writing guest posts and reviews for me. I have to keep my right arm in this horrible sling that fastens around my waist and across my torso and neck with this pillow thing that props my right arm about six inches away from my waist and even more immobile. I literally cannot move it at all. It is incredibly uncomfortable and makes typing with that hand absolutely impossible. Writing a review takes an entire day, and then even longer to fix all the typos that hunt-and-pecking with my left arm creates. These guest posters have been a lifesaver, and have made my recovery time much more relaxing and stress free than I ever expected it to be. These people who have offered their valuable time to me have helped in so many ways. I can’t thank any of them enough.

Of course when you have one arm that functions and you’re on pain medication there isn’t much you can do.

I’ve been reading a lot (a ton). I’ve been plowing through about a book a day. I’m almost at my 150 book reading goal for this year. I also decided to help out Ragnarok Publications with some slush reading (because really, what else am I doing right now?). I learned that I LOVE slush reading. It’s really interesting to see how books start, and where they end up when they’re published. It’s a process and I like being part of it. I’ve also been doing a lot of slush reading for the Blackguards open call submissions. That’s also been quite an experience, and I think that just by slush reading I’ve learned quite a bit about writing short stories. I’ve really had a lot of fun with it. I’ve also done some beta reading for authors, which I’m also really enjoying. Not only is it flattering to think that authors care about my opinion, but again, it’s quite interesting to see how books progress and how the creative process evolves.

Of course with all of these books I’ve been reading and unable to review I have a huge backlog of reviews to write, so that should be quite fun.

The other day I randomly decided to read the entire DIscworld series. I am following this chart.

I breezed through The Color of Magic in a day, and now I’m about 20% into The Light Fantastic. I have heard several times that these first books are the weakest in the whole series, and I went into them expecting that. However, I’m surprised by how much I’m enjoying them. I thought I’d kind of tolerate them, but they are turning out to be a lot more enjoyable than I expected.

My three-year-old has entered this stage of bedtime where she turns into Captain Hook and we have to chase her around the house until we can (gently) subdue her as one would subdue the scariest pirate in Neverland, and put her in bed. It’s fun for her, and not so fun for her father or me. The other day I got her in bed and started reading The Color of Magic to her, a section about the World Turtle and the elephants on its back and all that. Fiona thought that it was the coolest thing ever. Last night there was no chasing around Captain Hook. She got right in bed and asked me to read more about the turtle. The kid is loving these books as much as I am, and it’s making bedtime so much easier!!

And that’s been about all I have to say for myself. These past few weeks have been a haze. Recovery has been a lot longer, and a lot more frustrating than I expected. I’m glad it’s almost over. I’m getting excited to go back to work again because I’m getting rather bored at home. I’m also excited to start really reviewing a lot of the books I’ve read. I’ve read some fantastic stuff, and I can’t wait to finally be able to talk about them all on a regular basis. I’m getting there. Life will be back to normal before I know it.

In the meantime, I’ll just sit here and read, review when I can, and enjoy the downtime as much as I can. Thanks again for all your help and patience during my recovery. Being able to not think about my website, as its been in great hands, has done more for my mental state during recovery than I could ever really put into words.

You guys are amazing.

 

[Guest Review by Paul Weimer] Falling Sky – Rajan Khanna

About the Book

Ben Gold lives in dangerous times. Two generations ago, a virulent disease turned the population of most of North America into little more than beasts called Ferals. Some of those who survived took to the air, scratching out a living on airships and dirigibles soaring over the dangerous ground.

Ben has his own airship, a family heirloom, and has signed up to help a group of scientists looking for a cure. But that’s not as easy as it sounds, especially with a power-hungry air city looking to raid any nearby settlements. To make matters worse, his airship, the only home he’s ever known, is stolen. Ben must try to survive on the ground while trying to get his ship back.

This brings him to Gastown, a city in the air recently conquered by belligerent and expansionist pirates. When events turn deadly, Ben must decide what really matters–whether to risk it all on a desperate chance for a better future or to truly remain on his own.

255 pages (trade paperback)

Published on Oct 7, 2014

Published by Pyr

Author’s website

Buy the book

This book was sent for me to review by the publisher.

Huge thanks to Paul Weimer for taking the time out of his busy life to write this review for me.  

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Falling Sky combines a lean narrative with an all-too-topical plague to provide a strongly grounded character focused story.

Zombie narratives fall into a couple of different categories and buckets depending on the focus of the writer. For example, zombieism can be seen as a metaphor, depending on the type of zombieism. The kind of zombie story where your family, friends and neighbors turn to zombies before your eyes can be seen as a metaphor for Alzheimers and Dementia, losing someone you love and care about right before your eyes. This is, for me, part of the absolute horror of zombies. For all of its humor, the movie Shaun of the Dead, especially in its denouement, is this kind of zombie story.

Falling Sky’s zombie story metaphors are somewhat different. For all that, given its topicality, it was extremely chilling and topical for me. The plague that creates Ferals, and that they still carry, is a blood-borne close-contact illness. Ben, and other characters throughout the novel are extremely concerned, to the point of an understandable neurosis, about physical contact with the ferals at any point. The transmission of bodily fluids is a deadly thing in Falling Sky’s world, to the point where it warps even sexual relations between characters. But more to the point, the recent news about the Ebola outbreak, and its transmission by similar means, meant that for me, hearing news on the outbreak cast my mind back to the novel, and similarly, I found myself thinking, chillingly, of the Ebola outbreak every time the ferals come on screen in the novel.

The novel is lean and mean, which is on occasion a double edged sword. The pull quote from Tad Williams on the cover “Hemingway meets the Walking Dead” is not as hyperbolic as one might think–the writing is sparse to the point of aridity. Worldbuilding comes at an exceedingly light touch, and always married to character. We never find out where some of the key locations physically are or are even described particularly well. The locations do not leap off of the page and become fully fleshed worlds to explore. The narrative only focuses on a location when it matters to the characters, especially Ben, and even then its parsimoniously parceled out. The writing goes into Ben’s head, and the motivations and actions of Ben instead (the novel likes to use flashbacks in this regard). I think this stylistic choice strength that occasionally undercuts the mise-en-scene of the novel. This is not a world to immerse oneself in.

Overall, the writing style and talent of the author is quite effective in making Falling Sky work. More to the point it makes the novel rather different than most zombie stories. In the same way that Mira Grant’s Feed is hardly a typical zombie plague novel with its focus on politics, Falling Sky, with its writing style and concerns, should not be confused with the typical zombie novel. And for me, that’s a good thing.

 

[4 Stars]