Science Fiction

Kathy isn’t a normal kid, and neither are any of her friends. They were all cloned, and someday, their vital organs will be harvested until they die. But for now, they will grow up in a secluded boarding school nestled in a corner of England, called Hailshem. Hailshem is idyllic: creativity is nurtured, friends are everywhere, and there are supported teachers. Kathy retells her experiences as she looks back on her life in preparation for her organ donations. And…. that’s basically it. It sounds like a really interesting concept for a book, but the author completely butchered it! His writing drags on and on, and completely bored me to death. If he had written it better, or if someone rewrites it, the book would be fascinating. But the writing style is so dreadfully dull. I warn you-- do not read this book! You will seriously regret it if you do!
Reviewer Grade: 7

This is an amazing book to read! It is a sci-fi, action filled, parody of the classic Cinderella fairy-tale. This is the first book of the Lunar Chronicles. Please read the books in order!!! This book will keep you on your toes! There’s a cliffhanger at the end (so make sure you get next book Scarlet before you finish Cinder). Cinder is one of the best books I have ever read!

Reviewer Grade 8.

What happened to the last expedition? Was the last expedition male? Where are the male of the local species? Is Jael the only male in the area? Has he created his own harem of native women, driving off the males with his pheromones?

I found this book on a must read list from NPR for 2017. It looked interesting and had a fascinating synopsis and review. I read it, liked the drawings and wanted to know who “Jael” was from the story. The last interaction between the women is about his criminal history. Aphra asks Sarai what it says and she responds with “It doesn’t matter.” However, I suspect it does, I think it had a direct impact on everything that occurred in the story. The author did a good job of “setting the hook” with that closure. Considering the dream fish sequence, I think it was intentional. As I reread the story a few more times, elements that seemed trivial began to come together and illuminate more of the story. I think it is worth a read, or several reads.

Most people know this book by its numerous film adaptations, including Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 and 1978), Body Snatchers (1993), and The Invasion (2007). In fact, I like to think that many facets of this story have become a part of popular culture, including the replication “pods” and Donald Sutherland’s scream in the 1978 film version. While the source material is inherently pulpy, a result of the genre and the era in which it was published, there is an entertaining quality to the story that has allowed it to survive for so long.

Simple in its execution, but brilliant in its reveal, The Body Snatchers builds up an inherent distrust of the people surrounding the main characters as they investigate why everyone seems “off” in this small, California town. While the full explanation of the aliens’ presence and purpose is relegated to an enormous information dump more than half-way through the book, it nevertheless contains some interesting ideas and concepts that could be plausible given the circumstances. I would have preferred better integration of this information into the plot, but sometimes the characters just need to sit down and explore these ideas in depth.

In the end, The Body Snatchers has plenty of strong moments in its plot. Sure, there’s the weaker section or two, and the more upbeat ending didn’t have much explanation other than the aliens’ annoyance of humanity’s persistence. Still, it’s a fun story, and even decades later it’s clear why The Body Snatchers is a timeless classic, even if it’s not “on par” with more significant literary titans. Maybe that’s its charm, though. By making it about the “everyman,” the horror and terror of everyone around them being replaced by emotionless beings is much more relatable on a visceral level.

A timeless pulp classic, I give The Body Snatchers 4.0 stars out of 5.

Day of the Predator, by Alex Scarrow takes place in 2001 in an archway in New York. The main characters are Time Riders, people who watch over time and make sure it doesn’t become corrupt. The story start when someone who would write a report in 2026 that would eventually begin time travel is assassinated in 2015. The Time Riders head to 2015 to try to stop the assassination before it can happen. The setting is in Texas where they land in a laboratory that is testing zero-point energy. The entire class the writer was in and the Time Riders are caught in an explosion caused by tachyons, particles that move faster than light. Instead of killing them, the explosion sends them 65 million years ago, 250,000 years before the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs happened. There a super intelligent undocumented species of reptiles (not dinosaurs) discovers them and silently begins to hunt them. They don’t make their appearance until later in the book. This species is intelligent enough to think and successfully manages to kill off the humans, except the Time Riders and the two humans that they could save who managed to warp back to 2001 in time. But when they get there, there is another problem. Actions packed and interesting, Alex Scarrow makes his book seem like a possible future for humans in another reality.

The novella “Mitosis” by Brandon Sanderson is not about mitosis, but is about an Epic who can create multiple copies of himself. The more he makes the less individual intelligences they have. When there is a lot of them they all speak with one voice and work as one intelligence. This novella is technically book 1.5 in the Steelheart Series. It has about 57 pages and happens shortly after Book 1. An Epic is a normal human who has been given powers and turns into a tyrant. Epics feel darkness in their powers and often succumb to it and start killing innocent people and other Epics. There are different levels of Epics from normal one to High epics. Normal Epics can be killed by conventional means, in ways that normal people can die. High Epics can’t be killed by conventional means and often the only way to kill one of them is to use their weakness against them. Some Epics can fight the darkness and these Epics tend to be Gifters, Epics who are able to give some of their power to other people. They aren’t using their power for themselves and that gives them some relief. Steelheart was one of the most powerful High Epic who was invincible. He could could fire powerful bursts of energy from his hands and he could also fly. He was the ruler of Newcago and could only be killed by someone who wasn’t afraid of him. He had a habit of killing people with their own weapon. The only reason he died was because the main character, David, put a detonator inside the gun Steelheart was going to fire at him and the bomb blew up. If David had detonated the bomb it would not have hurt Steelheart at all. Since Steelheart detonated the bomb and he wasn’t afraid of himself, the bomb killed him. Shortly after Steelheart’s, David and the Reckoners, a group who have dedicated themselves to fighting the Epics before he joined them, are left to watch over Newcago while their leader and founder Jonathan Phaedrus, or Prof, is away. Mitosis sneaks into the city looking for “Steel Slayer”, as David is called by the city. He threatens to kill one person every five minutes until he shows up. When he does, Mitosis tries to kill him and the Reckoners have to fight him.

The book The Maze Runner by James Dashner is a fascinating book. It places the reader in a semi- dystopian world. The time for this story takes place in the late 2200s (Maybe. Dates tend to come in this format 231.5.4 or May 4, 231.). As a disease ravages the world outside turning people into savages, the main character, a 16 year old boy named Thomas wakes up in a swinging box having no recollection of his life before that point. He remembers nothing except his name. Half an hour later, the box opens and Thomas meets the Gladers (as they call themselves because they live on a glade). All of them are male. They are all surrounded by towering walls and giant gates that shut whenever it gets dark. The giant gates lead to a seemingly impossible maze with moving walls and creatures that threaten to hurt them. These creatures are called Grievers and they are hideous bulbous creatures with concealed blades and needles. Whenever someone gets caught by one of the Grievers, they are Stung, which has a lot more meaning than getting stung. When someone is stung, they experience horrible pain and occasionally go mad. The Gladers have people they call Runners who go into the Maze every day to find new passageways. They receive food and water and antidote for Stung victims at the same times every day. Someone new arrives once a month and they are always male. All that changes when someone new arrives two days after Thomas and she is female. Then supplies and antidotes stop arriving.

How Few Remain is a alternate history novel by Harry Turtledove. In his book, it depicts an alternate universe where the south wins the American Civil War, and the Confederate States of America is now its own independent country. What I enjoyed about this novel is the many different characters and how they view the other country. In every page you can just see the tension that will eventually snap between the two powers. People from the North and the South always spewing insults at each other. Each character that comes into play are very interesting and all seem like they have their own backstory. My favorite character in the story would be Abraham Lincoln. Just because you get to see what his life is like and how the country views the man who lost the civil war. The book is also just the first part of a series which goes through the period of World War I and World War II and how the North and South react to that. I believe there are two things that make this book standout, its characters, and its lore. For those two reasons alone I will have to recommend this book. Or the entire series, what ever is your cup of tea.

The novel “Uglies” by Scott Westerfield is an adventure into the future. In this futuristic society, everyone is “ugly” until they turn 16. When they turn 16, they get surgery to become pretty and go live in the pretty world. The story is focused on a girl named Tally. She has been anticipating the day of her 16th birthday ever since her brother went to the world of pretties. But Tally wasn’t the best ugly out there. She broke some rules before her 16th and might have to face consequences for her actions. This includes losing the privilege of becoming pretty. Everyone in her world wants to become pretty, but she happens to meet a friend who doesn’t want to change. She and this girl are the last ones to turn 16. I recommend this novel to people who enjoy scientific fiction and adventures. This book sucked me right in. There are 3 more in the sequel and I ended up buying and reading all of them!
Reviewer Grade: 10

The book "The Stand" by Stephen King is a novel about a disease. It starts out at a gas station where the disease is first seen in the novel. This book has many different characters as it progresses. The main antagonist is the embodiment of evil. He is basically the Antichrist. Although I didn't like this book as much as some of Stephen's other works because I have a short attention span and some parts are not attention grabbing. It is still a very good book and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes horror. This novel is very unpredictable which is one of the main reasons I like it as much as I do. Because there are so many characters in this book, it was very easy for me to relate to their situations.
Reviewer Grade: 9