Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds

Title: Century Rain
Author: Alastair Reynolds
Publication Date: 2004
Length: 530 pages

Century Rain starts off with two separate plots, which later come together. Verity Auger is an archaeologist, studying the remains of an Earth destroyed by the nanocaust. She is recruited for a secret mission, which takes her to what appears to be Earth in the 1950s. Meanwhile, in the 1950s, a detective/jazz musician named Floyd is investigating the murder of a seemingly innocent woman, Susan White, whom he suspects to be a spy. When Auger's and Floyd's interests in the case collide, they have to work together to solve the mystery, and maybe save the world.

Part space opera, part post-apocalyptic, part alternate history, part mystery, I must say this novel is unlike anything I've read before. I really enjoyed how the story started off, alternating chapters between Floyd and Auger, not telling you how the two stories were going to intertwine.

Closer to the end, when it got more into space opera territory, it did slow down a bit for me. A bit like a car chase, but in space, and spread out over multiple chapters. The ending was also a little open for my liking, leaving me wanting to know what happens to the characters next, but that's more a matter of personal taste. The main plot points are wrapped up.

Overall, I liked the story and the main characters. The post-apocalyptic elements were neat, with humanity having split into two factions based on acceptance of nanotechnology. While a few things bugged me, they were minor enough that my overall impression of the book is still positive, and I'd read other books by this author in the future.

4 stars.

The Queen's Army by Marissa Meyer

Title: The Queen's Army (Lunar Chronicles #1.5)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publication Date: November 23, 2012
Length: about 18 pages (ebook)

The Queen's Army is a short story in the Lunar Chronicles series, giving some backstory for one of the major characters in the second novel, Scarlet. I read this story in between Cinder and Scarlet, which I think is the intended reading order.

Ze'ev recently turned 12 years old, and he's top of his class, and strong, so he knew to expect a visit from the queen's thaumaturges. Not given a choice, he is taken away from his family to be genetically modified and trained as part of the queen's army. His modifications give him the improved strength, agility, and reflexes of a wolf. Since he knows that those who don't perform well are modified further, so that they are barely human, he does all he can to succeed in his new pack.

This is a great story. I loved watching how Z changes in order to survive. It's sad that he couldn't just be a kid and had to be put into such a terrible situation, but I like how he gets stronger and learns what he has to do to survive. Whether you read this one before or after Scarlet, you'll appreciate the backstory!

5 stars.

Animorphs #15 - The Escape by K.A. Applegate

Title: The Escape (Animorphs #15)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Publication Date: January 1998
Length: 163 pages

Warning: This is a review of a later book in the series and definitely contains a spoiler from at least one earlier book!

The Animorphs learn (from Erek, the android from Animorphs #10 - The Android) that Visser One has returned to Earth to oversee a secret project. (In case you'e forgotten, Visser One is Marco's mom, as only Marco and Jake currently know.) When they head underwater, to where the newest Yeerk facility is set up, they find sharks that are strangely focused and organised.

Marco doesn't want the others to know about his mother, since as the group comedian he doesn't want to be the object of pity. But he also doesn't want them to kill her if they get the chance, and how can he convince them of that without revealing the truth? This book is from Marco's perspective, so we see him thinking about this a lot throughout the story.

This book also brings us back to the competition between Vissers One and Three. Visser Three is always trying to make Visser One look bad, and vice versa. I'm interested in seeing how this plays out later in the series; so far it's always worked out well for the Animorphs, since when both Vissers are around the enemy doesn't present a united front.

5 stars.

Animorphs #14 - The Unknown by K.A. Applegate

Title: The Unknown (Animorphs #14)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Publication Date: January 1998
Length: 166 pages

There's a rumour going around that the government has uncovered proof of alien life, and that they're hiding it on a top-secret base called Zone 91. The Animorphs know that the Yeerks will have to check it out, to find out if the government has found a piece of Yeerk technology, or if it's just a conspiracy theory.

Things I liked about this one include the Yeerks taking over the bodies of horses (and subsequently pooping and being embarassed about it, and also trying to dial phones with hooves), and when Rachel, Marco, and Cassie have to make up fake names, and Cassie comes up with Cindy Crawford, and gives the fake phone number 12345678, which is hilarious.

Things I liked less include Cassie thinking that the best morph to disguise herself in a stable is... a horse! So suddenly there's this extra horse in the stable; no one will find that suspicious at all! Throughout that scene, I was all "OMG morph a fly! MORPH A FLY!". Sigh.

Anywho. This one was funny and entertaining. A bit fluffy compared to other books in the series, though.

3 stars.

The Andalite Chronicles by K.A. Applegate

Title: The Andalite Chronicles
Author: K.A. Applegate
Publication Date: December 1997
Length: 326

At the beginning of the Animorphs series, the Andalite Prince Elfangor crashes his ship on earth, and before he dies gives five children the power to morph, so that they can fight to defend their planet against the invading Yeerks. The Andalite Chronicles is Elfangor's story, his hirac delest (final statement), transferred from his mind to his computer in his final moments.

It's interesting to see Elfangor, looked up to by Ax and the other Animorphs as a hero, when he was just an aristh (a cadet). Aside from this backstory, this book gives us a bunch of other context for the main series: we get to learn more about the Taxxons, more about how the Yeerk who would become Visser Three managed to take over an Andalite host, as well as a rather mind-blowing fact about one of the main characters that I can't say any more about without a big spoiler.

The Andalite Chronicles isn't part of the chronology of the main series, meaning you could read the series without reading this book, but you should definitely read it. It's well-written and action-packed, and who doesn't love a tonne of back story?

4 stars.

Animorphs #13 - The Change by K.A. Applegate

Title: The Change (Animorphs #13)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Publication Date: December 1997
Length: 162 pages

Warning: This is a review of a later book in the series, and may therefore contain spoilers from earlier books.

Tobias and Rachel are flying around, mysteriously ending up over the forest no matter where they try to go, when they see two Hork-Bajir being chased by a lot of Controllers. The Hork-Bajir turn out to be free (no Yeerks in their heads), and the Animorphs learn a lot about what the Hork-Bajir are actually like. Along the way, Tobias is given an intriguing offer by an Ellimist, that could let him be human again.

I love reading about the Hork-Bajir. They're such an interesting species, and I appreciate the fact that K.A. Applegate came up with an explanation for why a peaceful species would look like walking razor blades, as the Animorphs call them.

But of course Tobias is the real focus of this story. Throughout the book, he has several conversations with the Ellimist, and considers the possibility that he could be human again. He does some reflecting on his life as a human, and his life as a hawk, both of which have had their ups and downs. I won't spoil the ending for you, but I loved how it was resolved.

5 stars. I am loving this series!

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Title: The Host
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Publication Date: May 6, 2008
Length: 619 pages

Wanderer is a Soul, one of a race of aliens that live by taking over the bodies of other species. When Wanderer comes to Earth, she is put in the body of Melanie Stryder, but Melanie doesn't give up her body so easily. Instead of fading away, Melanie remains as a voice in Wanderer's head. By listening to Melanie, and feeling her feelings, Wanderer becomes attached to the memories of Melanie's brother, Jamie, and boyfriend, Jared. Together, they flee the Seekers and go in search of surviving free humans.

This book was so different from what I was expecting. I had no idea it would be from the perspective of the alien, which I found to really give the story a good angle. Wanderer isn't some cruel, conquering alien; she honestly didn't realise that humans would resent being taken over, no matter how much their world has been improved as a result.

I also liked Melanie, and how she grew to understand and even love Wanderer over time. But really I was all about Wanderer (and as a result, I was totally into Ian, and totally NOT into Jared). I liked Jamie a lot, too. I often had trouble picturing how old he was. He's really just a kid, but has been forced to grow up way too fast. I found him quite lovable.

One warning: This book is not for the faint of heart about women being punched in the face. Because oh my goodness, does Wanderer ever get punched in the face a lot. I mean, I get that she's seen as the enemy in a planetary war, but it still seems pretty messed up how many guys had no problem punching this quiet, gentle girl who was so obviously not a threat to them.

Overall I just really liked this book. The story, the characters, the ending, pretty much everything.

4 stars.

Movie review coming soon!

Water Harvest by Eric Diehl

Title: Water Harvest
Author: Eric Diehl
Publication Date: 2011
Length: about 420 pages (ebook)

House Alar, the most powerful of the Houses, is attacked by one of the lunar colonies that is trying to take control of the coveted moisture in the atmosphere, with the help of the Viizar, who use hallucinogens to bend the laws of nature. The balance of power is thrown off, and Cairn, heir to Alar, must work together with members of other houses, as well as strange cave-dwelling people, to take back Alar and the planet.

At the start of this book, so many characters are introduced that by the time they were mentioned again I'd usually forgotten who they were. That was pretty frustrating. But eventually, at least the main characters became clear to me, and for the most part I liked them.

The war that is basically the plot was interesting. The main problem I had was that I didn't understand the background. There's one chapter that takes place far in the past, but at that time they already had the problem with not enough moisture in the atmosphere, and lunar colonies trying to steal the moisture. But it seemed like the origin of this problem was never actually explained. Nor were the bacteria that live in the air; I'm not really clear what they do. So I could have used more background to these big problems. But aside from that, the story was enjoyable and engaging.

Also, I hate to say it, but this book was just too long. I'm not opposed to reading a chunkster now and then, but this one took me a full month to read.

3 stars.

Full disclosure: Free ebook copy received from the author.

The ABACUS Protocol: Sanity Vacuum by T. Gregory

Title: The ABACUS Protocol: Sanity Vacuum
Author: Thea Isis Gregory
Publication Date: December 6, 2012
Length: about 226 pages (ebook)

Vivian Skye, right out of university, lands her dream job on the Extra-Galactic Observatory, a distant and isolated space station where she hopes to make a name for herself working on their advance quantum computer, quIRK. But it's not all she was hoping for, with a crew that maintains a distance from her, and a horrible, bigot of a boss that clearly has a grudge against Vivian. And soon, Vivian starts to realise that quIRK may be showing signs of sentience, which is strictly forbidden by the ABACUS Protocol.

I don't read a lot of sci fi (which is strange considering that's most of what I watch), and this book made me really wonder why. Even aside from the human interactions in this book, which were interesting, the story of a quantum computer developing a personality, and finally sentience, is a fascinating one. quIRK was a great character.

The story also explores other themes, like the effects of extreme isolation on people, which I find to be a really interesting subject. Different types of people are affected in different ways, and some of them are quite disturbing.

5 stars. Recommended for any and all sci fi lovers.

Full disclosure: Free ebook copy received from the publisher through NetGalley.

Animorphs #12 - The Reaction by K.A. Applegate

Title: The Reaction (Animorphs #12)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Publication Date: November 1997
Length: 152 pages

Warning: This is a review of the 13th book in the series, and may contain spoilers from the earlier books.

The Animorphs find out that an a famous teen actor, Jeremy Jason McCole, is going to endorse The Sharing, the cover organisation for the Yeerks. Since Jeremy is the love of teen girls everywhere, the Animorphs know they have to stop this, or The Sharing will have no problem recruiting a whole lotta teenagers. But as they plot to stop him, Rachel starts having a really weird problem: she's morphing uncontrollably, sometimes from one morph to another without even morphing back to human again.

I liked the whole thing with Rachel's allergic reaction to the crocodile morph. It was one of those story lines that gives you more interesting details about morphing. There were also some pretty awesome fight scenes in this one. Overall, it wasn't a particularly groundbreaking book as far as this series goes, but it was enjoyable.

4 stars.

Animorphs #11 - The Forgotten by K.A. Applegate

Title: The Forgotten (Animorphs #11)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Publication Date: October 1997
Length: 162 pages

When the Yeerks crash a bug fighter, the Animorphs take the opportunity to try to steal it, with the intention of landing it on the White House lawn to reveal the Yeerks to the human world. The mission starts off well, other than Jake having these weird flashes of a jungle. But when they get in a fire fight with the Blade ship, and the ship's dracon beams collide, the Animorphs are thrown into another time, and find themselves in the jungle of Jake's visions.

Though a lot of the time travel stuff confused me, that tends to be the case in every time travel story I read or see, and there was nothing that seemed really unbelievable to me. The explanation for Jake's visions, and for how they got out of there, was really cool.

This is also the Animorphs book with the best Star Trek reference so far:

Marco put his hand on my shoulder. "Phasers on full power!" he said in a Captain Picard English accent. "Arm photon torpedoes! If the Borg want a fight, we'll give them one! Make it so!"

This was another really good, action-packed Animorphs book, and the time travel aspect added some extra sci fi goodness.

5 stars.

Animorphs #10 - The Android by K.A. Applegate

Title: The Android (Animorphs #10)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Publication Date: September 1997
Length: 170 pages

Warning: This is a review of a book that is not the first in its series. It may contain spoilers from earlier books.

While in dog morph, Marco comes across an old school friend of his, Erek, handing out flyers for the Sharing. The weird thing is, Erek doesn't smell human. Even a human with a Yeerk in his head would still smell human. When Erek gets hit by a truck, his holographic human body flickers, and for a moment his metal body beneath is revealed. The question is, whose side are these androids on?

This was an interesting story. I liked the idea of a species being incapable of causing harm, even to defend themselves, and wanting to change that for their own safety, but then the horror of killing being so terrible to them that they give up that chance. Also, alien species that aren't humanoid (in this case, looking like dogs), are awesome. Sci fi has entirely too many basically-human alien species. Animorphs is great for breaking out of that mold.

This book had some good action, as well as philosophical issues, which are both components of all the best Animorphs books. I really enjoyed this one.

5 stars.

Animorphs #9 - The Secret by K.A. Applegate

Title: The Secret (Animorphs #9)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Publication Date: August 1997
Length: 158 pages

Warning: This is a review of the ninth book in the series, so it may contain spoilers from earlier books.

The Animorphs discover that the Yeerks have set up a logging facility in the woods by Cassie's house, where Ax and Tobias live. Since they still think the Animorphs are Andalites, the Yeerks figure they must be hiding out in the woods, so they plan to destroy the habitat to flush out the Animorphs. Cassie has the idea to sneak in and find out how they got permission to log there, so there might be a political way to stop them. They sneak in by morphing termites, which turns out to be a pretty disturbing experience.

I love when Cassie narrates. She's definitely the nicest and most down-to-earth character. Plus, she's always thinking, so her books always have philosophical questions. In this case, she comes to the realisation that nature is brutal, and that morality is complicated when animals need to kill each other to live.

The termite morph was awesome. It started off fine, seeming like the termite had no will of its own for the human mind to have to overcome. But once they get near the queen, they find themselves forgetting that they're even human. It's very creepy, and Cassie has a bit of a panic attack.

The Secret also has some impressive fight scenes, and Visser 3 totally gets sprayed by a skunk. That really made my day. :)

4 stars.

Animorphs #8 - The Alien by K.A. Applegate

Title: The Alien (Animorphs #8)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Publication Date: July 1997
Length: 159 pages

Note: This is a review of the eighth book in a series, and may therefore contain spoilers from the earlier books.

The main plot in this installment of Animorphs starts when Ax, thinking he's playing a computer game, accidentally advances the work of some scientists by a few centuries. When he realises that he's created something that could be used to contact his home world, he decides to take the opportunity to contact his parents. Of course, trouble ensues...

The Alien is the first Animorphs book narrated entirely by Ax (short for Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill). That was a refreshing change in perspective. He's the one character who has different knowledge than the others. There was a lot of delightful, children's book style foreshadowing, with Ax talking about how his friends can never know his shameful secret, and stuff like that. Such fun! Eventually, though, he does share his deep dark secret, and it fills in some interesting backstory for the series.

Ax also continues his efforts to learn more about humans, and once again gets in trouble for his extreme reactions to taste. He discovers the joys of popcorn, chocolate, and very hot chili. He also starts reading books the others give him to help him learn, including the World Almanac, and a book of famous quotes. These scenes are fun from any perspective, but I'm looking forward to more books narrated by Ax.

5 stars.

This book counts towards the Read Your OWN Library! Challenge (hosted by The Beauty of Eclecticism) for December. This book also counts for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

S is for Space by Ray Bradbury

Title: S is for Space
Author: Ray Bradbury
Publication Date: 1966
Length: 211 pages

S is for Space is a collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury. There's a big variety, from a guy who turns into a crysalis and hatches, to a dead man climbing out of his grave in a future world where morbid things have been banned, to a kid who hears a woman screaming from underground, but no adults will believe her.

It takes a LOT for short stories to impress me. I've read short story collections by people I adore, like Neil Gaiman, and still thought they were kind of meh. It's just not the format I prefer. Short stories often feel rushed, obviously, but worse than that, I hate when they don't end. I argued endlessly with my high school English teachers about "open endings" and how stupid they are.

Well, these stories, as a general rule, did not have open endings. They were exactly what short stories should be. I enjoyed almost every one of them. So if you're like me, and you're looking for some good short stories with really interesting premises, and that don't leave you hanging, I recommend this book.

4 stars.

This book counted for the 2012 Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

Megamorphs #1 - The Andalite's Gift by K.A. Applegate

Title: The Andalite's Gift (Megamorphs #1)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Publication Date: June 1997
Length: 240 pages

The Andalite's Gift is the first Megamorphs book in the Animorphs series, taking place between Animorphs #7 and #8. The Megamorphs books are just like the regular books in the series, but a bit longer, and narrated by all the characters instead of just one. The increase in length means that the story has more time to get fleshed out, which is a nice change in pace.

A huge monster that looks like a cloud of dust and is capable of destroying anything in its path has started attacking the Animorphs. Any time they morph, it appears. There doesn't seem to be any way of fighting it. Meanwhile, Rachel gets knocked out and forgets who she is, making her morphing instincts pretty scary!

The Valeek (the dust monster) was a terrifying enemy. A lot of the time it seemed hopeless. So I was kept on the edge of my seat. I also liked how the narrator changed each chapter. Getting to see events unfold from all the Animorphs' points of view was really interesting.

The ending of this one was really cool. Sometimes the plans the Animorphs come up with are just crazy, and I wonder what they could possibly be thinking, but this one was, while crazy, also really impressive. This is one of my favourite books in the series so far.

5 stars.

This book also counts for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

Animorphs #7 - The Stranger by K.A. Applegate

Title: The Stranger (Animorphs #7)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Publication Date: April 1997
Length: 163 pages

Marco and Tobias find another entrance into the Yeerk pool, and the Animorphs decide to go in to spy, in hopes of discovering the location of the Kandrona, which keeps the Yeerks alive. They go in as roaches, which it turns out Taxxons like to eat! Just as a Taxxon is about to swallow them, time stops. An Ellimist, a being that exists outside of normal space-time, gives them a choice: continue their fight, and lose, or be taken to a new planet where the human species will be repopulated.

In order to convince them, the Ellimist shows the Animorphs a future in which the Yeerks have won. But the more they think about what they've seen, the more they start to question the Ellimist's motives.

This was a strong Animorphs book. The one part I took issue with was when they escape from the Taxxons, because it seems like they left a lot of bad guys alive, who presumably saw them morph, so shouldn't their secret be out now? It seems like they would have figured out that the Animorphs were human, not Andalites. So I'm not sure what's going on there.

This story ended up being a lot more hopeful than a lot of the books in the series. It's nice to have something good happen sometimes, instead of just always trying crazy plans, nearly getting killed, and having only tiny effects on the Yeerks.

4 stars.

This book also counts for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

Dr. Horrible and Other Horrible Stories by Zack Whedon

Title: Dr. Horrible and Other Horrible Stories
Author: Zack Whedon
Publication Date: 2010
Length: 78 pages

Dr. Horrible and Other Horrible Stories is a graphic novel, which collects a few short stories about the characters in Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (which you should watch, if you haven't already).

The first story is called Captain Hammer: Be Like Me! Captain Hammer narrates it, talking about how awesome he is and urging people to do their part fighting crime, by doing things like reporting your friend who's good at science, because he might be a supervillain. It's basically an intro to the character, and is pretty funny.

The next story is Moist: Humidity Rising, which is Moist's origin story. I'm glad they included this, because I always wondered about Moist in the movie, and what his deal was! I won't spoil it for you, but I will tell you that Moist was actually once a very dry child.

Penny: Keep Your Head Up is a cute little story about Penny, and how she's too busy with all her volunteer work to date anyone. Her attempt at a date does not go well, but things look up at the end.

The Evil League of Evil is a look at some of the members of the E.L.E., and also shows us a bit more about Johnny Snow, who's only mentioned in the movie.

The last story, Dr. Horrible, is the longest. It shows us how Dr. Horrible became a villain (and his reasons are pretty legit!), and continues through his rivalry with Captain Hammer, leading up to probably not long before the movie.

This collection was really entertaining. I enjoyed the little references to the movie, and getting some back story for the characters, including some more minor ones. This is a must-read for any Dr. Horrible fan!

5 stars

Animorphs #6 - The Capture by K.A. Applegate

Title: The Capture (Animorphs #6)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Publication Date: February 1997
Length: 154 pages

When the Animorphs discover a Yeerk plot being run out of a local hospital, they make a plan to get in there and destroy a Yeerk pool. But, as always, something goes wrong, and while the plan overall goes pretty well, Jake comes out of it with a Yeerk in his head!

A lot of the rest of the book is just Jake listening to the Yeerk in his head, while the other Animorphs guard him in an attempt to starve out the Yeerk. Since this one is told from Jake's perspective, it gives a really interesting insight into the Yeerks. This is the first time we've seen anything from the perspective of a Controller.

This is my favourite of the Animorphs books so far. It's fast-paced, suspenseful, and has more Star Trek references than I've seen so far in the series. :-)

5 stars!

This book counts towards the Read Your OWN Library! Challenge (hosted by The Beauty of Eclecticism) for October. For November, my book for the challenge will be Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong. This book also counts for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

Zombie Surf Commandos From Mars by Tony Abbott

Title: Zombie Surf Commandos From Mars
Author: Tony Abbott
Publication Date: 1996
Length: 97 pages

This is a weird book. I mean, obviously. But I mean, I'm a big fan of R.L. Stine, king of the slightly cheesy horror books for kids. And I found this book too cheesy.

Liz, Holly, and Jeff are hanging out at the beach, when suddenly, zombie surf commandos from Mars come surfing out of the lake onto the beach, and start looking for brains! They're both zombies and from Mars because they were normal Martians, and were made zombie-like by something about Earth. Anywho, the kids have to come up with a clever plan to get the zombie surf commandos to go back to Mars.

What else can I say? It was just really weird, and really cheesy.

2 stars. That's what I gave it in the heat of the moment. I can no longer remember why it got 2 stars instead of 1. I must have liked something.

This book counts for the 2012 A-Z Book Challenge.