‘Rosewater’ Book Review

Rosewater by Tade Thompson is a unique blend of science fiction, mystery, and Afro-futurism set in a near-future Nigeria. The story follows Kaaro, a cynical and reluctant psychic working for a secret government agency. He lives in Rosewater, a city that has sprung up around a mysterious alien biodome that occasionally heals the sick and grants strange abilities to some people.

I felt no emotions from these characters. I definitely think this is a plot-driven story rather than a character-driven one. The characters did absolutely nothing for me.

The atmosphere didn’t do a whole lot either. It is interesting to see Nigeria in a science fiction book, as previously, when I’ve read books set in that location, they were in the contemporary literary fiction genre rather than a sci-fi one. It’s kind of cool to see how modern-day Nigeria developed into the near future, as depicted in the story. However, overall, it did not do a lot for me.

The writing was definitely my least favorite part. There are three timelines that we are following, and I had a really difficult time trying to distinguish between them. They all feature our main character going on different missions. I think this could have been improved by changing the tense throughout the different timelines, with the present being in first person and the past in third person.

Another thing that I despised about this book was the overly sexual tone. Books can be sexual; it is completely normal and a part of being human. However, when every woman is described by her breasts or the curve of her buttocks, it becomes inappropriate and uncomfortable. Sexual themes were brought up constantly, and women were objectified in the story.

I can definitely admit when I’m the problem. I purchased this book back when it was first published in 2018, and it took me this long to read it. I think I could have enjoyed it more back then than I did now, as I am more aware of what I like in my reading. This month, I’ve discovered that I not only don’t like mysteries, but I also don’t enjoy mysteries within a science fiction setting. I don’t like stories about people going on quests as detectives or government agents; it’s just not for me.

However, I do have to give credit where credit is due: by the last quarter of the book, the sci-fi elements become super interesting. This is unlike any other first contact story I’ve read before; it offers a real biological take on an alien invasion. As an alien lover, I’ve never thought of an invasion happening like this, but it makes a lot of sense.

I don’t see myself continuing the series, as I felt nothing toward the characters and I hated the writing and tones of the book. If, for some reason, anything here intrigues you, I recommend picking this book up from your library, and if you like it, then consider purchasing your own copy.

1.85 out of 5 stars.

‘Fever’ Book Review

“Fever by Deon Meyer is a gripping post-apocalyptic thriller set in a world ravaged by a deadly virus that has wiped out most of humanity. The story is narrated by Nico Storm, a teenage boy, as he recounts his journey with his father, Willem, who is determined to rebuild civilization from the ashes.”

The characters were fine. I liked them. I found them to be two-dimensional, though. They all had their roles and places in the story; there could have been a little more depth to them. Obviously, Nico is our most developed character, as this book is a fictional memoir of Nico’s life. This is a fictional character, giving his story something that is kind of new for me. It’s like a book within a book. Something that is unique about the story, though, is that we are seeing someone come of age in a sci-fi, post-apocalyptic setting. I think you could even relate that to the real world of somebody who is growing up in a hard situation, but this one is in a world ravaged by plague. I never really thought about what happened to kids in this post-apocalyptic subgenre, but this book really touches on that.

The atmosphere was something new to the post-apocalyptic subgenre, as this story takes place in South Africa. Those elements were really cool. When I think of dystopian settings, I usually think of America or a world that is so unrecognizable. I like to see the spin of the story set in a different country. However, by the end, I had a lot more questions about this world, and even though this book is over 500 pages, I wanted a little bit more.

I actually did fairly enjoy the writing style, even if it’s not my typical taste. There was a lot of wisdom and intelligence on these pages. I highlighted and tabbed many of the quotes so I could save them to think about later. There was a lot of telling rather than showing, and that did kind of bother me, but I have to remind myself that this is a memoir—someone looking back at their life rather than being in the moment with that person. Also, around the chapters in the middle part of the book, the transitions were fantastic, moving from the history project to Nico’s narrative. I keep mentioning that this is a fictional memoir, but that had a huge impact on my reading experience. I never felt too worried about our characters since I knew that they lived, as we have them looking back and telling the story. I never felt anxious or on the edge of my seat.

There is always going to be one part that is a little bit tricky, and with “Fever,” it is the plot, which feels somewhat surface-level. This brings nothing new to post-apocalyptic pandemic novels; it’s your typical story of a plague with only a select group of people alive, trying to survive in a world full of raiders and humans acting like monsters. However, there are some pretty good themes here, the main one being community. What makes a community? We see these people build a community after this tragic plague took over the world. It almost reminds me of the dawn of time when civilization was forming. I wrote in my notes that the story almost feels ancient. Yes, the author brings up Rome quite a bit, and even books like “Sapiens” by Yuval Noah Harari. It just feels ancient in exploring what makes a community, what makes a civilization, and what makes a human, human.

Another big theme is the resilience of humans and how we will work ourselves out of these bad situations because, at our core, we are just trying to survive in this world. I really thought I knew where this book was going to go, but it became unpredictable towards the end, and I really don’t know how I feel about the ending. I don’t think it was bad, but I just needed more development with it, and again, this book is already over 500 pages. Did we waste some of those pages? I’m not sure. This is a fine book. I think if you haven’t read a lot of post-apocalyptic books, it could be a good place to start, but for someone who really enjoys a good plague novel, it didn’t bring anything new to the table for me. I’d recommend checking this book out from your library.

3.25 out of 5 stars.

‘Leviathan Wakes’ Book Review

“Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey is the first book in The Expanse series, blending space opera with noir detective fiction. Set in a future where humanity has colonized the Solar System, the story follows two main characters: James Holden, the idealistic executive officer of the ice hauler Canterbury, and Detective Joe Miller, a grizzled investigator on Ceres Station.”

This is not a character-driven story for half the book; that’s such an odd statement that I’ve never really had to write for a review. The chapters with Holden as the main character are plot-driven, while our chapters with Miller are character-driven. Let me explain: with James Holden, when we are introduced to his plotline, we are introduced to his whole crew all at once. For me, that is extremely overwhelming to be introduced to a handful of characters within a few pages of each other. It’s especially bad when the majority, if not all, of those characters do not develop throughout the course of a nearly 500-page book. Miller is like a lone wolf, so you’re really in his head a lot, and I think the depiction of mental health and PTSD was done fantastically in this book, as it’s something that you see a lack of in science fiction and fantasy genres, even though these characters are going through really messed-up and war-like situations. I do want to say you can definitely tell that this book was written by men, as all the female characters are there for the sake of the males having some sort of romance. You could still have that Phoebe plot without the romance and there was no chemistry between Holden on his love interest. That guy was falling for every woman. I hate to have to write that, but I couldn’t help but pick up on that throughout the book, and I just know some men are going to be offended by that comment. Sorry, not sorry.

The universe said this was sudden, which was super cool. This isn’t some make-believe galaxy; this is the galaxy that we are living in right now as humans. The author does take into account science and how gravity, or the lack thereof, impacts people’s bodies. Of course, that’s going to lead to all sorts of things like xenophobia and racism, even though we are in outer space and not on Earth.

I have no real complaints about the writing. It didn’t impact my reading experience one way or another. There were some cringey lines every now and then, but I do have to remember that this book was published 14 years ago, and some of those lines might have passed back then.

I do like the idea of the plot, how this is genre-bending, as this is a mystery noir story set in a sci-fi environment; it is definitely something unique. There’s one problem, though: I was confused throughout, especially in the second half of the book. We would get a lot of science and physics talk at once, and a lot of that went right over my head. I also spoke about the characters, and for half the book, we didn’t have a whole lot of character development, if any at all. If I do not connect with the characters as a reader, I’m not going to care about what is happening in the plot, and by the last chapters of the book, all of it felt kind of pointless to me. I can admit there was a lot of logic for the science, but with other aspects, I think there was a lack. I didn’t really care where the story went, and as you can tell, I will not be continuing the series. This year for my TBR, I am making a list of the highest-rated books on my TBR, and this is the highest-rated science fiction book according to Goodreads that I own. Now I’m kind of scared of this challenge that I’ve set up for myself. This book didn’t do a whole lot for me. I wouldn’t really recommend it, but as always, if this sounds intriguing to you, pick it up, but maybe try from the library first.

2.25 out of 5 stars.

‘Project Hail Mary’ Review

“Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir is a gripping science fiction novel that tells the story of Ryland Grace, an astronaut who wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of who he is or how he got there. As his memory gradually returns, he realizes that he is the sole survivor of a last-ditch mission to save humanity and Earth from an extinction-level threat.

I had no emotional connection to these characters whatsoever. When all these big events were happening and I should have felt worried for them, I honestly was just like, “Yeah, that’s happening.” I can definitely tell which characters were meant to be the comic relief, which ones we were supposed to root for, and which ones we were supposed to hate, but honestly, I didn’t feel any of that. Ryland Grace, our main character, had dialogue that was over-the-top quirky. Nobody talks like that, and it made me cringe. However, he did really feel like a human being on this mission. My favorite character was Stratt. I do wish we had more resolute endings for our side characters. That’s something that I’m realizing while writing this review: this book was very open.

The atmosphere was one of my favorite parts. You cannot help but feel anxious and claustrophobic while reading this book. You can feel it for Grace being on this mission, being all alone on the spaceship in outer space where no human has been before. You can also feel it for everyone on Earth. There’s this impending disaster that civilization doesn’t know if it will be able to save itself from or not. It felt like a ticking time bomb, not knowing what was going to happen to not just our main character, but Earth as a whole.

As stated before, the dialogue was rather quirky, and I found that to be cringey. However, there were comedic moments. It feels weird to say, but I think this book was kind of wholesome. The complaint I have about the writing, though, is that the science and math talk was rather much and went over my head. However, this was a medium-paced book and easy and accessible to get through for a science fiction novel. When I saw the length being nearly 500 pages, I was so scared this book was going to be dense, but it wasn’t.

I do not know if this book was intended to be a plot-driven one, but the plot was definitely the highlight for me. Each timeline that we’re following, one being preparing for this mission, and then the mission itself, has so much intrigue. I was wanting to know if the mission would be accomplished and how Ryland Grace got involved in this mission. To make this book more confusing, I would’ve even wanted a third plotline of following what was happening on Earth while Grace was in space. There was a lot of logic, except one decision in the last 10% of the book made me angry. Also, it’s so open, and I’m so curious. I have more questions after finishing this book, which means I will be going on a Reddit deep dive tonight. I did have probably three big questions, and I was so worried that they weren’t going to get answered, but they did. If you’re worried things are going to wrap up properly, they don’t wrap up 100%, but if you keep going through the story, I promise some of your big, important questions will get answered. This was a good book, but it’s nowhere near being a new favorite book of mine. I would still recommend it.

3.75 out of 5 stars.

‘Kindred’ Reader’s Guide Answers

Both Kevin and Dana know that they can’t change history: “We’re in the middle of history. We surely can’t change it.” (page100); and “It’s over . . . There’s nothing you can do to change any of it now.” (page 264). What, then, are the purposes of Dana’ s travels back to the antebellum South? Why must you, the reader, experience this journey with Dana? – I think this book was probably really eye-opening at the time (1979) in showing the brutality of slavery, and how naive the modern population is, and that we shouldn’t forget our history and where our nation came from.
How would the story have been different with a third person narrator? – I do not think the story would have been different with a third-person narrator. Personally, I prefer third person, but I believe the same points would still have been conveyed.
Many of the characters within Kindred resist classification. In what ways does Dana explode the slave stereotypes? In what ways does she transcend them? – Dana transcends these roles by teaching and educating the other slaves. I believe it’s the magic of her ability to time travel, while the others cannot, that ultimately leaves a sense of wonder and raises questions about her.
Despite Dana’s conscious effort to refuse the ‘mammy’ role in the Weylin household, she finds herself caught within it: “I felt like Sarah, cautioning.” (page 156), and others see her as the mammy: “You sound just like Sarah” (page 159). How, if at all, does Dana reconcile this behavior? How would you reconcile it? – I do not think Dana reconciles her conscious efforts with her behavior. I never really noticed this behavior to begin with. I don’t think I would reconcile them. I would just continue to live my life not caring what others thought.
I do think that in the 21st century, we still have conditioned responses to slavery because of what people have been taught in school for so long. Many people don’t really care for history; they just acknowledge that ‘yes, this is bad,’ but they don’t truly realize the brutality of it.
How do you think Butler confronts us with issues of difference in Kindred? How does she challenge us to consider boundaries of black/white, master/slave, husband/wife, past/present? What other differences does she convolute? Do you think such dichotomies are flexible? Artificial? Useful? – Butler challenges us to consider the boundaries between the people in the story by showing the complex relationships between all of the characters. As for other differences, I think it really shows the differences in time periods and how far we have come as a country, but also how there are still a lot of the same stigmas.
Compare Tom Weylin and Rufus Weylin. Is Rufus an improvement or simply an alteration of his father? Where, if any, is there evidence of Dana’s influence on the young Rufus in his adult character? – I don’t think there really can be an improvement between Rufus and his father. Both were awful, and both did terrible things. I do think you can see hints of Dana’s influence on Rufus, mainly in regards to his children, but I won’t go into too much detail, as I don’t want to spoil the story.
Of the slaves’ attitude toward Rufus, Dana observes “Strangely, they seemed to like him, hold him in contempt, and fear him at the same time.” (page 229) How is it they can feel these contradictory emotions? How would you feel toward Rufus if you were in their situation? – I couldn’t feel these contradictory emotions. I don’t think any of the slave characters seemed to like Rufus. I think they all thought he was a bit of a pest and annoying, and I would feel just like them. I would hate him too if I were in their situation.
Compare Dana’s ‘professional’ life (i.e. her work as temporary help) in the present with her life as a slave. – Dana’s professional life in the present, with her riding, allows her to do something she wants to do. She gets to choose her job, so obviously it is way better than her life as a slave.
When Dana and Kevin return from the past together, she thinks to herself: “I felt as though I were losing my place here in my own time. Rufus’s time was a sharper, stronger reality.” (page 191) Why would the twentieth century seem less vivid to Dana than the past? – I think the 20th century will seem less vivid to Dana than the 19th century because it was so brutal in the past, and people were just trying to survive. In the 20th century, they had the pleasure of doing what they wanted. They had freedom.
Dana loses her left arm as she emerges—for the last time in the novel—from the past. Why is this significant? – From what the author has said, this is significant because everybody came away from slavery broken. Even today you can still see the impact it had on society . In how it divided people.
Kevin is stranded in the past five years, while Dana is there for almost one. Is there a reason why Butler felt Kevin needed to stay in the past so much longer? How have their experiences affected their relationship to each other and to the world around them? – I saw Butler felt the need to have Kevin stay in the past so much longer than Dana, so he could truly understand the experience that she was going through because for a white man it was easier tremendously easier than to be a black woman in the 19th century, I think it definitely affected their relationship to each other, because of how different the mentality and morals were of the past.
A common trend in the time-travels of science fiction assumes that one should not tamper with the past, lest s/he disrupt the present. Butler’s characters obviously ignore this theory and continue to invade each other’s lives. How does this influence the movement of the narrative? How does this convolute the idea of ’cause and effect’? – This influences the movement of the narrative by characters, not having to be scared or constantly having to have the same train of thought to me. It did not convolute the idea of cause-and-effect at all.
Dana finds herself caught in the middle of the relationship between Rufus and Alice? Why does Rufus use Dana to get to Alice? Does Alice use Dana? – Rufus uses Dana to get to Alice because he sees them as the same woman he doesn’t see them as their own person so he thinks that Dana thinks like Alice does I would say Alice does use Dana as well because she knows that Dana have some kind of holdover Rufus, because of her abilities to travel through time.
The needs and well-being of other residents of the plantation create a web of obligation that is difficult to navigate. Choose a specific incident; and determine who holds power over whom and assess how it affects that situation. – I think Dana holds a lot of obligation because she ultimately knows what will happen in history to all of these people maybe not individually but as a whole.
Dana states: “It was that destructive single-minded love of his. He loved me. Not the way he loved Alice, thank God. He didn’t seem to want to sleep with me. But he wanted me around—someone to talk to, someone who would listen to him and care about what he said, care about it.” (page 180) How does the relationship between Dana and Rufus develop? How does it change? What are the different levels of love portrayed in Kindred? – The relationship between Dana and Rufus develops of her, taking care of him after all his near death experiences, and that they hold each others lives in their hands in a sense, but like any relationship, you can grow tired of the other person just from constant neglect of the relationship and I think you can really see that here all different levels of lover portrayed in Kindred, romantic family. There are so many complex relationships in the story.
Discuss the ways in which the title encapsulates the relationships within the novel. Is it ironic? Literal? Metaphorical? What emphasis do we place on our own kinship? How does it compare with that of the novel? – I think the title is ironic, literal and metaphorical. You can take it in any way you want; literature is art and it’s meant to be interpreted by the reader. I’m not sure how it compares with that of the novel; it’s something that I would definitely have to think about.
Do you believe that Dana and Kevin’s story actually happened to them, or that they simply got caught up in the nostalgia of moving old papers and books? – I do believe that Dana and Kevin story actually happen because it is us too far out to get caught up in nostalgia, examining old papers and books.
Butler opens the novel with the conclusion of Dana’s time travels. The final pages of the book, however, make up an epilogue demonstrating a, once again, linearly progressive movement of time. How does the epilogue serve to disrupt the rhythm of the narrative? – I do not think the epilogue serves to disrupt the rhythm of the narrative. I thought it fit in with the story perfectly as the characters were getting closure on the events that they went through.
After returning from his years in the nineteenth-century, Kevin had attained “a slight accent” (page 190). Is this `slight’ alteration symbolic of greater changes to come? How do you imagine Kevin and Dana’s relationship will progress following their re-emergence into life in 1976? – I do think this alteration is symbolic of greater chances change is to come I think that being in the past for so long definitely did change Kevin’s mentality how I imagined Kevin and Dana‘s relationship of progress following reentry to life in 1976 I can see them staying as a couple because they went through this incredible traumatic journey together, but also how the mentalities were impacted as I keep saying I don’t know if it would be good for them to stay together or not.

‘1632’ Book Review

“1632” by Eric Flint is a science fiction novel that explores the concept of time travel. The story begins in the year 2000 when a small American town named Grantville is mysteriously transported back in time to the year 1631, right in the middle of the Thirty Years’ War in Germany.

The characters were pretty flat. Sure, I liked Rebecca, but overall, they did not develop much over the course of the story. That says a lot when a book is over five hundred pages. Hopefully, throughout the course of the series, they do grow. The female characters were all ‘girl bosses’; they could shoot guns and make a room of men cry. I would just like to see more diversity than that. As for the men, I began to forget who was who by the end. This book had poor characterization.

The atmosphere left me gaping with questions. Why did this time slip happen? Were other places experiencing the same thing? Could the people of Grantsville go to the rest of America? We saw what the rulers of Europe thought, but what was the president thinking about one of his town’s vanishing and going back to the past? I am picky when a science fiction book takes place in our own world. I need logic. This book could have been so much bigger, and I would have enjoyed it more if it had been.

The writing was very accessible. Thankfully, it was easy and fast to get through, which is something rare for the genre of science fiction.

A lot of my complaints from the other points come into play with the plot as well. Eric Flint must have had a lot of faith in Americans. I truly do not believe if this story happened in the real world, as it does, it would play out this way. Then again, this book was published nearly twenty-five years ago, and America has changed a lot in that time. What I mean is, I do not believe all the citizens of the town would come together, and no one would really question a time slip. I also do not believe the characters from the European past would adjust so well to our modern world. The atmosphere did leave a lot of holes for me as I still do not have a complete understanding of what was going on. This is a unique premise of a plot, but it was not executed properly by Flint.

The characters were pretty flat, and this book had poor characterization. The atmosphere left me gaping with questions. This book could have been so much bigger, and I would have enjoyed it more if it had been. The writing was very accessible, thankfully, making it easy and fast to get through, which is something rare for the genre of science fiction. A lot of my complaints from the other points come into play with the plot as well. This is a unique premise of a plot, but it was not executed properly by Flint. I would not recommend this book to others.

2 out of 5 stars.

‘Wanderers’ Book Review

“”Wanderers” by Chuck Wendig is a gripping speculative fiction novel that follows the journey of a mysterious epidemic sweeping across America. People begin sleepwalking in vast numbers, becoming part of a silent, enigmatic march towards an unknown destination. As society grapples with fear and uncertainty, a group of individuals connected to the sleepwalkers embarks on a perilous quest to unravel the truth behind this phenomenon. The story delves deep into themes of humanity, survival, and the consequences of societal breakdown in the face of a catastrophic event.” – Summary from ChatGPT.

The characters were my biggest struggle in ‘Wanderers’. They are great in concept. We follow a girl whose sister is a sleepwalker, a CDC scientist, an evangelical preacher, and a few others who are not as directly impacted. Shana, the sister, drove me crazy. I do not believe that the author could write a female teenager well. She was so much like ‘I’m not like other girls’, so edgy and rebellious. You can make a character like that but also not make their chapters a major eye roll. I felt no strong emotional pull to these characters, but Benji, the scientist, and Matthew, the preacher, were my favorites to read from. I loved that we got to see the apocalypse from so many perspectives: religious, scientific, and then your normal everyday person.

I always love it when a science fiction novel takes place in our real world. This is very much an American-centric novel, but we do get bits and pieces of what is happening in other parts of the world. The reader goes on a great cross-country journey with these characters, and you can really feel the struggles of the atmosphere around them.

The writing is another aspect that I had a bit of a hard time with at the start of the story but grew more accustomed to as the novel went on. The dialogue wasn’t realistic; the way characters talked was just strange—people don’t really talk like that. This book was comedic at times, and I don’t know if those instances of dialogue, mainly Shana’s chapters, were supposed to be like that on purpose. Going along with that, the reader gets every little detail of the characters’ thought process, which I found to be unnecessary. This is a very heavy book, not just by subject matter, but the scientific discussions might go over the head of some. I found them to be interesting, so that did not hinder my experience, but this is a very heavily written book.

Here is a rare statement to come in a book review written by me: The plot was the highlight. This is one of the best science fiction plots that I have read in years. It is so logical and therefore scary by how real it feels. I do not have any clue how this book was published before the COVID pandemic because the author hit the nail on the head on how Americans react to a pandemic. There is a lot of commentary on politics and society. Yeah, if you are not a political person and read for escapism, maybe don’t pick this one up. There were so many twists and turns that I did not expect—some made me gasp, while others just made me sit back in almost despair. It is hard for me to sum up this plot by how epic it was.

The characters were my biggest struggle in ‘Wanderers’. I always love it when a science fiction novel takes place in our real world. The writing is another aspect that I had a bit of a hard time with at the start of the story but grew more accustomed to as the novel went on. Here is a rare statement to come in a book review written by me: The plot was the highlight. I loved this book even though at times, I did contemplate not finishing. I am glad that I stayed on and finished the journey with the characters. This was a great book, and I loved it, but it is not a new favorite.

4 out 5 stars.

‘Annihilation’ Book Review

Area X has been locked away from the world for decades. Every few years, the Southern Reach Project send in a group of people to survey the land. Most of the time the expeditions do not make it back. This year, it is a group of four women who have to survey and map the terrain.

If you are like me, and character exploration is your favorite thing about reading, ‘Annihilation‘ will not be a book that you come out of loving. The way the character development is done by the author is very creative. We are never given a name of our narrator, as this is their account of their time in Area X, they are not supposed to get personal with the other team members. It was interesting but I never felt a strong connection with the narrator.

At first, I thought this atmosphere was going to be great because the nature writing was so good, but then I began to ask questions. Why is Area X a thing? What caused it? What is the outside world like? Is it a dystopian society or the world as we know it? We do get some answers but nothing in great detail. This book, as it is an account, would make sense if someone in the book universe was reading it but for someone in our real world it can be confusing. Other than that, the author did a great job at really putting the reader inside Area X.

The writing was my favorite part of Annihilation. As stated before, the nature writing is superb. We really get to see how lush but almost claustrophobic Area X is. If you are someone who enjoyed the writing of ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’, you will probably like the writing here even if the genres are completely different. This reads like a nonfiction as this is the character’s account of her time in the area. I really was not expecting that and it was something different for me in the science fiction genre.

On paper, the plot sounds like something I would enjoy. The character work was not there though, so therefore, I did not care what was happening to the characters and that meaning the plot became irrelevant to me.

If you are like me, and character exploration is your favorite thing about reading, ‘Annihilation‘ will not be a book that you come out of loving.The character development was done in an interesting form but I never felt a strong connection with the narrator. At first, I thought this atmosphere was going to be great because the nature writing was so good, but then I began to ask questions.Other than that, the author did a great job at really putting the reader inside Area X. The writing was my favorite part of Annihilation. I really was not expecting that and it was something different for me in the science fiction genre. On paper, the plot sounds like something I would enjoy. This was a good book but I am not rushing to pick up the next ones in the series.

3 out of 5 stars.

‘Rule of Two’ Book Review

(Since this is a sequel, I am only going to give the description of the first book in the series.) Des lived a rough life, the son of a miner, that was the life destined for him; to be just like his father. Des has always dreamed of escape, to see the galaxy. He finally gets the chance when he gets into serious trouble and must go on the run. He gets sent to war; he joins the ranks of the Sith army to fight against the Republic. All his talents show in this field and the higher ups know that he is destined for far greater things as the role in the Sith empire. Des does not believe the teachings he is given at the Sith academy and goes against it all to find his on role in the galaxy.

I am stunned by this one. In the review for first installment in the series, I will leave a link below, I said that the authors know how to develop a character. In this one, absolutely not. The problem for me was that I had no connection to Zannah, whatsoever. She is the character that is getting the most page time, but I felt like her actions were random and she was one dimensional. I did not hate her, but I did not know enough about her to care. Bane is the one who carried the first book and his development in that was excellent but in this one that is just not the case.

‘Rule of Two’ is not as atmospheric as the first novel but we did get to explore some new worlds. I really liked one of the planets, it seemed to be inspired by Italy by its politics and a few other hints. We also got to see some places that anyone familiar with Star Wars would know, like Coruscant.

The writing was typical. It was fast and easy to read, I thank God for that because I do not know if I could have gotten through this book otherwise.

I really liked how this started off exactly where the previous book left off. That makes it easier for the reader to adjust and remember the events of the previous story. Again, I felt like the plot was all over the place much like the actions of the characters.

This was a disappointing read as I have loved and enjoyed all the other books that I have read from this author. Bane is the one who carried the first book and his development in that was excellent but in this one that is just not the case. ‘Rule of Two’ is not as atmospheric as the first novel but we did get to explore some new worlds. The writing was typical. I really liked how this started off exactly where the previous book left off. Nevertheless, I will continue the series and my journey of reading every Star Wars book in chronological order.

2 out 5 stars.

My review for the first book: https://izzyreads.blog/2021/05/15/path-of-destruction-book-review/

‘Horus Rising’ Book Review

The empire of man has been expanding and crusading for nearly a thousand years, but it is finally coming to an end. The emperor has returned to earth and has left the war in the hands of his Warmaster to tie all the loose ends.

We focus on Loken, who is a newly appointed captain in the military, and then a few remembrancers, who are put in place to show the war through their kind of art rather it be photography, poetry, or some other format. This was interesting getting to have the interviews between Loken and his remembrancer, Mersaide, we really got to see him come to terms with the war and overall develop as a character as he was thinking back on his past actions. It was a great way to show development.

Abnett did a great job at putting the reader into the setting. His writing was very descriptive and atmospheric. I did not expect this writing style for a book that is based on another form of media. Each planet that the soldiers or remembrancers visited was unique and they never felt repetitive.

As stated in the section dedicated to the atmosphere; this book had a descriptive writing style that never felt like it was too long or too much on the page for the reader to grasp. the pace of the story was quick, and it is hard to believe that the book was over four hundred pages in length. I would pick up a book by Dan Abnett again in the future simply for his writing style. It is perfect for the fantasy and science fiction genres.

The plot was where this was lackluster for me. For the first thirty percent of the story, I had no idea what was happening. I started taking notes from there and to my understanding we are following a captain who is unsure of what he is fighting for and coming to terms that the empire might not be all that it is made out to be. I think he is too intelligent for his position, at least from my understanding of the story. I did not connect with this plot. At first, I thought it might be because I have never played the video game series that this story is based on, but I read other reviews to find out that it does not matter if you have played the game or not. So have at is as you will.

Abnett really knows how to develop a character and have the development shown in a unique way that is intriguing to the reader. He can also drop the reader right onto an alien planet and make them feel like they have seen that place before. The plot had themes of war, religion, or lack thereof, and coming to terms with what one believes in. Sadly, I could not get into the story. This was another average read for me which seems to be a theme with the books on my TBR this January.

3 out of 5 stars