Lore by Alexandra Bracken

 

I liked the first half of this book better than the second. The story was stronger, for me, at the start and too drawn out by the end. Even though things reach a satisfying conclusion, there's maybe 50 pages too much that get you there.

All that being said, Lore is a unique, well-thought-out story that inserts a "what if" scenario into our modern-day world that's both fascinating and exciting. I was quickly hooked.

What if a set of Greek gods and goddesses become mortal every seven years?

What if, when they're in this state, the human who kills them absorbs their power and becomes the new version of that immortal?

You're curious, right?

This is the reality Melora (aka Lore) gets born into as a descendant of Perseus. Her bloodline is one of the heroic few selected to punish the banished gods and goddesses, and so they continuously train, preparing to do battle every seven years in the week-long Agon. Deities like Apollo, Athena, Hermes, and Ares are forced, during this time frame, to become mortal (with superhuman powers) and get hunted.

It's a bloody, strategic, and cunning week of treachery and violence that the bloodlines basically live for. Each one wants a god of their own to kill and claim. Lore is the last of her bloodline. She feels the pull to fight, but also wants out of the whole cycle. She's lost everything, including her parents and sisters, and spent the years between the pervious Agon and the one about to start hiding. Then, one day, at just the right moment, a wounded Athena shows up on her doorstep and Lore finds herself fully sucked back in.

The rude awakening throughout her interaction with Athena is that nothing is as it seems. Lore dives back into the carnage hoping to put an end to the whole thing, but it's complicated and full of near-death experiences. There's also no shortage of pain, both physical and emotional, deceit, and fear as Lore and a few trusted friends try to figure out what's really happening and how to save their beloved city of New York from the power lust of the gods.

It's all very exciting until the aftermath of one particularly intense battle, and a few big reveals. This is where the real climax of the book takes place, but the story keeps going, and more keeps happening. It all makes sense and is significant to the plot, but the 'wow' factor has already worn off, and you're not even close to the end. This is why I feel that the second half isn't as good as the first. Things could have transpired much more rapidly, still getting you to the end of Lore's story, but without so much drag.

I did really like this book, and I loved Lore as a character. I do want to send out a fair warning though about the speed bump you may or may not feel toward the end. Overall, however, this is a great story that mixes myth with a relatable reality, and I very much enjoyed reading it. 

Outlawed by Anna North

 

Book club book #14

Well, let me begin by saying that this book had potential. Multiple plot points paved the way for some interesting and thought-provoking stuff. However, with an underdeveloped and choppy plot, two-dimensional characters, and way too much left unexplained, the book falls SHORT.

It's even hard to really say what Outlawed is about at its core. The book takes place in an alternate reality in the 1890's. A massive Flu took out a huge percentage of the population and transformed the US into a series of small, independent towns (I think.) Many of these towns have developed on top of the bodies of those who perished from illness, leaving a superstitious population still willing to accuse women of witchcraft.

This is especially true for women who can't have children. Since they don't understand the science behind barren women, once they marry them off at a young age, if they don't have a baby within about a year, they're kicked out of their husband's home. Some survive, some flee, others are hanged as witches. 

Ada, the main character, is one such woman. After failing to bear a child within the first year of her marriage, she's sent back home to her mother and whispers of her witchcraft begin to rumble through town. To escape, her mother sends her away to a convent. There's a price on her head and a sheriff out looking for her, so hiding out at the convent would be wise, but it's not for her. Off Ada goes to try and join up with the Hole in the Wall gang, led by the infamous Kid.

While in the company of the Hole in Wall gang, Ada discovers her true calling, her true talent. She also learns how to ride a horse, defend herself, shoot a gun, and disguise herself as a man. Like I said, there's a lot going on here. In the end, Ada decides to fight for her true path, giving us a hopeful and inspiring ending minus all the information you were hoping to get about the future of the characters you've been following all along.

This book could have been an ode to feminism in the wake of uneducated, brutal men. But, they give the strongest female a serious weakness. It could have been a book about those on the fringes of a society coming together to find peace, but the gang doesn't really let anyone else in who might have benefited from their protection. We could have just ended up with a good 'ole, female-led Western, but it fails to get there as well.

Something about this story just didn't deliver, and I'm not sure I liked what was there enough to care about what was missing. I wish the author had focused more on a single tangent though, so there was less to follow, and less to wonder about once we reached the end. It also would have helped flush out her characters, in my opinion. A lot of things in here felt a little flat, or too quickly resolved with a single flashback.

You might want to skip this one, or at least go into reading it like you'd watch a single episode of a TV show -- you know most things won't get resolved by the end.

Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline

 

Oh my goodness. This book went so far off the deep end that not even infinite space can save it. 

There was almost something good here, some real questions to think about. It could have gone in the direction of, How technology interferes with relationships  or How humanity's dependence on technology can get us into trouble. The book could have delved into humanity's psychological need for escapism. There were any number of interesting and intelligent routes the author could have taken, but instead, we ended up on The Afterworld -- a virtual planet dedicated to Prince -- for an insanely long time, all while people's lives hung in the balance.

Ready Player Two picks up -- after a lot of exposition -- a few years after the first book ends. The "five" heroes of Ready Player One have settled into their positions as owners of GSS with Og advising, and the business growing. Wade (Parzival) is lonely and more dependent on the Oasis than ever, with nothing to really do. 

With all the access he's gained as Halliday's heir, Wade discovers an unreleased piece of tech known as an ONI headset. They're different than the suits worn in the first book because the ONI actually detaches your consciousness from your body, and puts it into your Oasis avatar. This allows you to feel virtual experiences like you're really living them. The only catch is your mind separates from your body in order for this to happen.

Everyone but Samantha (Art3mis) agrees to release the ONI into the world, so out it goes and everyone is hooked. At the same that this happens, a new quest appears in the Oasis that only the heir can complete. The 7 Shards of the Siren's Soul. Wade teams up with his crew, and with a little outside help, it begins.

Then, like last time, there's some serious trouble and a powerful enemy (not the Sixers this time) and Wade is forced to think fast, while puzzling out the quest, to save the day.

What is nice is that it takes the collective knowledge of all the players to get the job done. Wade doesn't have all the insider knowledge himself. In fact, he would've failed the quest if he'd worked alone.

The crazy starts after once we move on from the quest. Without revealing the specifics, the book ends up in this 2001: A Space Odyssey place, with copies of people's consciousness awakening in a virtual reality on a trip through space. The book gets into it more eloquently, and I promise I didn't really ruin anything for you. But, you need to know the ending is just weird and almost uncomfortably sorted out -- like the end of a Spielberg movie.

Parts of Ready Player Two met my expectations after liking book one, but most did not. It's a sequel you can avoid -- I promise.

Also by Ernest Cline:

• Ready Player One
• Armada

Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth

 

This book began in such a different place than others like it. This is a story about good and evil. There's magic. There's an "epic" battle and a lot of carnage. But, that's not where we start.

The story begins ten years after the Chosen Ones have completed their mission. The bad guy is gone, the world is repairing, and our heroes are left dealing with the emotional and mental fallout of what they've experienced while essentially at war.

The five Chosen Ones began preparing for their fight as children, so the impact of their situation has been particularly hard to process. This is especially true for two of the five -- Albie and Sloane -- who both had a particularly rough time of it.

It was captivating to approach this topic from this angle. I liked beginning my interaction with these characters by thinking about what happens after such a significant life event. To see the struggle of living with the heroics and the tough decisions of war. I was so into where the book was going...

Until I wasn't.

That happened the second Sloane and two other Chosen Ones got sucked into a parallel universe, and the book becomes all about the battle after all.

Don't get me wrong, I like the genre, but it wasn't what I wanted out of this book. That, and the moment we shifted to the "action," the writing got worse. It was a fine read, but I felt like it moved through some great material only to hit me with disappointment.

Ten years after defeating The Dark One on Earth, using relics imbued with magic, the Chosen Ones are all in different states of repair. Not everyone is living a mentally healthy life. Albie, who continues to be physically and emotionally plagued by his capture and torture by The Dark One, commits suicide. This brings back the remaining four Chosen to mourn. It's in that instance that three of them get pulled into a parallel universe where magic is regularly used with the help of siphons, and The Resurrectionist and his undead army are the enemy. Our Earth's Chosen have been forcibly called upon to defeat them. It's the only way they'll get to go home.

Magic, though, is unique here. You have to know how to use it, but there also has to be intent behind each act. If you don't really want it to happen, even if it's as simple as unlocking a door, it won't work. Sloane struggles with this. Her mind is muddled with a mess of past guilt and trauma. Her disdain for the magic turns her into an easy target for The Resurrectionist. Once their paths cross, things get complicated (too complicated if you ask me.)

I'm very much on the fence about this book. I know I didn't really like it, but the story did take hold just a bit. The verdict is still out on my end.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

This is a good, fantastical adventure story. An epic journey of discovery. However, it begins a little muddled. You're not sure what's going to push the story forward fast enough to know what to pay attention to right away. It detracts from the 'aha' moments later. 

The author seems to love the genre so much, she over-inserts classic elements. You feel at times like you're in another book, if only for a few pages. This makes it hard to emphatically say whether I think this is a good book.

January Scaller is a girl that doesn't belong. She lives in a world she knows she doesn't quite fit into, but what choice does she have? Apparently, she has a lot. Weak spaces in the fabric of worlds create doors. If you can find them, you can move through them to somewhere new, somewhere that fits.

It's the beginning of the 20th Century when we first meet a young January. She's living as the ward of Mr. Locke, the head of an archaeological organization that obtains rare artifacts from around the world. January's father works for Locke retrieving these items. He's not really around for January, which makes it hard since she lost her mom as a baby. When her father disappears and is presumed dead, January begins to question everything. Once, January had discovered a door to a world smelling of salt and the sea. Maybe this is the solution to the mystery of her missing father, and what Locke is really up to.

At the same time all this happens, January comes into possession of a special book. It's a story of love, pain, and sadness. It's about misplacement and an almost endless search. It's her parents' story, and January decides she can find them again if only she can get to the right door. 

That's the heart of this book, what I feel is the main narrative line. A girl, coming into her own, heads out on a great search. But, that's hardly all that happens. It's practically impossible to summarize since so much leans into the general action. From multiple villains, magical abilities, daring escapes, death, love, and heartbreak, the story is stuffed with so much more than it needed. It takes too long for January to develop a sense of urgency, and she misses the obvious time and time again. The arc is awkward.

What I did like about the book is the magic it imbued to words. This is a book where words have true value and power. When believed in, they can literally change the world and bring people back to each other. It would have been easy for the author to use words as witchcraft, with characters speaking magic spells, but that's not what happens. It's more organic and feels more powerful.

Overall, this is a fun adventure to read over the summer. It will pick up momentum as it goes, so stick with it.

The Andromeda Evolution by Michael Crichton and Daniel H. Wilson

You may think this is a strange choice for a book given the world today, but what better time to read the sequel to a book about the possibility of a pandemic than now? The story is also so different from our current reality. I guarantee it's not in poor taste to pick this up if you're a Crichton fan.

The Andromeda Strain takes place in 1967. It's about a microbe that kills everyone but two people in a small town and the scientists who go investigate, and ultimately stop nuclear devastation from happening. It was a really fun book. Catching up to now, The Andromeda Evolution is happening 53 years later. The microbe has undergone serious study. We know it's still in the atmosphere. We know it's extraterrestrial and able to mutate. In its current state, it's most dangerous to a specific material used on spaceships. Military offices and detailed operational plans are in place for the sole purpose of watching Andromeda for any new anomalies that could lead to an attack, and reacting to them.

Nobody expects a giant structure to plop down in the middle of the Amazon. Spewing out a dark and deadly smoke, the threat of global extinction returns, but it's so much more than an invisible microbe this time.

Four scientists, one with direct ties to the first Andromeda incident, head into the dense jungle to investigate and hopefully neutralize the threat before more serious action is taken. In true Crichton style, the tense moments come rapid-fire along with a quick succession of informational nuggets that keep you in the loop as the story develops. The picture of what's going on and who's doing what comes into focus at the perfect time. You, as the reader, have all the necessary pieces alongside the heroic efforts of the main characters. 

The combination of diverse characters with unique motivations, technology and some great science fiction makes this book such a fun read. You're in the thick on things on the ground, but you also head up into space in order to face this alien microbe that seems hell bent on keeping humanity from leaving the planet. At the heart of all the action and terror, even Andromeda itself is a developing character.

Like most Crichton books, this is a fast and exciting read. It's an adventure set in a reality that's not ours, but could be. Reading it is a different kind of escape than something romantic or funny, but the message within the story seems fitting. It's a situation where humanity triumphs against those forces that would try to destroy us, and that's nice to read right now.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

This book is a lot. A lot of characters with dual purposes. A lot of movement and action in a place that's hard to visualize. A lot of narrative changes which reveal information so far apart, it's hard to pull it together. I still don't totally understand the ending, but I get it enough to feel a little, "meh," about it.

A secret world exists right beneath our feet. It's a world that holds story -- all of it. People find this world because they're meant to, by going through the right door. While it seems that most people who make the discovery just go down and enjoy being surrounded by caverns upon caverns of books, a few enter with a purpose to fulfill. Zachary and Dorian are two of those people. Lured down by the discovery of two curious books, and aided by two locals of this underground world, the men must complete a journey full of fear, pain, heartache, and ultimately love. One that concludes rocking along the waves of the starless sea, which seems to be a living thing itself, on its own mission.

This synopsis leaves out a ton of characters and a lot of action. It's all difficult to explain and harder to summarize. Whether that's a good or bad thing is up to you. Suffice it to say, this is a book about love and creating the right situation for the love you're meant to have to grow. It also drives home how complicated it is to find happiness.

I almost feel like this is the kind of pseudo-philosophical story a developing writer creates before they really know anything about writing. There's a compulsion to put all your thoughts into the story without self-editing, to use a lot of metaphor, and to blur good concepts with an excessive amount of words. While I like the ideas toyed with in the book -- love, human connection, and the evolution of a person's story -- the setting really overcomplicates things. There's just too much to this book all around. The physical space and layers of time within the story somehow dilute the ending, which I feel should have hit with a more exciting punch.

This book is tough to recommend. I liked it, but I wish the story had pieced itself together better. There's definitely something here worth reading. An adventure is always fun. It just doesn't feel totally right to me.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

This is a modern-day adventure story, what Indiana Jones might have gone through if the Internet and cell phones existed in the 1940's. Instead of dark caves with lots of skulls and scurrying animals, the characters here have Google and CG as their tools to solve the great mystery of a secretive society.

Everything about this book is quirky. Even the realistic impression of the crazy stuff going on at Google HQ is odd (and probably not that far from reality.) Clay is an out-of-work marketing person whose most recent job at a start-up that went under has left him a little disillusioned, so he takes the night shift at a unique 24-hour bookstore run my Penumbra. It's not your typical bookstore. There are only a few shelves in the front that carry modern-day books for sale. The rest of the store is devoted to a collection of old books all written in code. The regulars at the store don't buy anything, just borrow these old books, one at a time. Clay must track the activity of these regulars in great detail. He has no idea why or what's going on and probably would have stayed only slightly curious if not for a girl. She works for Google and she's extremely curious about everything and very persuasive.

So, the adventure begins to discover what these coded books are for, why they must be read in a certain order, who Penumbra really works for, and what the strange symbol on the door really means. In order to figure things out, Clay enlists a special effect wiz with a preference for building models out of real materials and his best friend who happens to own a company that creates anatomically correct body parts digitally. He also takes advantage of some pretty serious equipment and some serious brain power at Google. I won't give anything away, but even the cause for the adventure is quirky - it's all about a specific font with a cameo plot line about a fantasy writer (think dragons and magic.)

A quick and light read, this was a great departure for me from all the fantastical books I've been reading lately. It took place in today's world but was still a little mystic and exciting. It was a real adventure, one that anybody with the right resources and the right mystery to solve could go on today. The focus was on the quest itself with a little bit here and there about the characters so you were easily kept in the moment and not bogged down with too many flashbacks and internal monologues. I had fun reading this book and definitely feel like it has mass appeal potential.