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YA SF + misc
Mar. 23rd, 2016 11:40 amBurning Midnight, Will McIntosh. Fast-paced fun "teens caught up in SFnal Events" story. I've liked his short fiction and this did not disappoint; neat gimmick, fun unpredictable ride unfolding it. Might appeal to fans of Ready Player One or Westerfeld's Midnighters books or So Yesterday. 2016 book, standalone.
Across the Universe, Beth Revis. A set-up with a lot of power (teen chooses to accompany parents in cryo on interstellar flight, gets woken up early, has to adjust to life on generation ship) sadly bogged down by doing an Authorities With Secrets plot. Whyyy do so many YA authors default to this instead of trusting the inherent story of their premise? Someone already wrote The Giver perfectly, it was Lois Lowry, can't we move on? Also, I will accept from a woman author an attempted-rape-of-female-character scene I would have no patience for from a male author, but when the book kicks off with such a well-done intense body-violation scene with the cryosleep, it felt both unnecessary and less compelling. I don't think I'll read the rest of the trilogy.
The Sleeper and the Spindle, Neil Gaiman, with pretty pen-and-ink illustrations by Chris Riddell. Very classic "vintage" feeling in the illustrations, plus you know that Gaiman's going to have something fresh and interesting to say in his fairytale retelling, what an excellent little project all around.
To Hold The Bridge, Garth Nix collection of previously-published stories. I liked the titular Old Kingdom novella, and many of the rest are enjoyable enough. Some of them felt kind of samey-samey, gathered all together like this. I liked "A Handful of Ashes". Oh, note, "To Hold The Bridge" is set in the Old Kingdom but there are no familiar characters in it, so don't read it in hopes of seeing more Sam or whatever.
Across the Universe, Beth Revis. A set-up with a lot of power (teen chooses to accompany parents in cryo on interstellar flight, gets woken up early, has to adjust to life on generation ship) sadly bogged down by doing an Authorities With Secrets plot. Whyyy do so many YA authors default to this instead of trusting the inherent story of their premise? Someone already wrote The Giver perfectly, it was Lois Lowry, can't we move on? Also, I will accept from a woman author an attempted-rape-of-female-character scene I would have no patience for from a male author, but when the book kicks off with such a well-done intense body-violation scene with the cryosleep, it felt both unnecessary and less compelling. I don't think I'll read the rest of the trilogy.
The Sleeper and the Spindle, Neil Gaiman, with pretty pen-and-ink illustrations by Chris Riddell. Very classic "vintage" feeling in the illustrations, plus you know that Gaiman's going to have something fresh and interesting to say in his fairytale retelling, what an excellent little project all around.
To Hold The Bridge, Garth Nix collection of previously-published stories. I liked the titular Old Kingdom novella, and many of the rest are enjoyable enough. Some of them felt kind of samey-samey, gathered all together like this. I liked "A Handful of Ashes". Oh, note, "To Hold The Bridge" is set in the Old Kingdom but there are no familiar characters in it, so don't read it in hopes of seeing more Sam or whatever.
