REVIEW: Parable of the Sower (book) by Octavia E. Butler

Parable of the Sower is science fiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This was written as near-future science fiction. Readers follow Lauren Olamina from the age of 15 to 18. At the beginning of this period, she lives in a gated community with her family, painfully aware of the violence just outside the community's walls. As things become more unsettled, Lauren's driving force becomes a religion she calls Earthseed.

I read this for my local book club. I knew, going in, that it was going to be pretty dark. It was more readable than I expected, but the almost unrelenting grimness was more than I was in the mood to handle, most days, and I didn't actually finish the book until shortly after my book club meeting. 

There were technically hopeful aspects to Lauren's Earthseed ideas, but, in a world with rape, murder, and occasional cannibalism everywhere, it seemed utterly impossible that the eventual escape into space that she envisioned would ever happen. 

Extras:

Includes an essay by N.K. Jemesin, an interview with Octavia E. Butler, and reading group discussion questions.

REVIEW: Fake Dates and Mooncakes (book) by Sher Lee

Fake Dates and Mooncakes is a YA m/m romance. I bought my copy new.

Review:

A year ago, Dylan had hoped to enter a Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake-making contest with his mother. Then she got sick. Now that she's gone, Dylan lives with his aunt and cousin and helps out at his aunt's Chinese takeout place, Wok Warriors. He still wants to enter the mooncake-making contest in his mother's memory, but another benefit of the contest would be the possibility of getting Wok Warriors some desperately needed publicity. His aunt does her best to hide it, but Dylan's painfully aware she can barely make ends meet.

One evening, Dylan fills in for their delivery guy and gets yelled at by a customer for bringing an incorrect order. The one bright spot was that he got an eyeful of the guy's rich and hot boyfriend, Theo. It surprises Dylan when Theo stops by to apologize for his friend Adrian's behavior. The two of them get to talking, and Dylan happens to mention Wok Warriors' money issues...only for Dylan's aunt to later get a surprise "small business grant" for exactly the amount Dylan mentioned. Dylan doesn't feel comfortable accepting the money, so Theo tells him he can be his fake date to an upcoming family wedding if that will make him feel better about it.

REVIEW: Scythe & Sparrow (book) by Brynne Weaver

Scythe & Sparrow is a dark romantic comedy. I bought my copy new.

Review:

In this final book of the Ruinous Love Trilogy, Doctor Fionn Kane and circus performer Rose Evans, who had previously seemed like the least murdery characters in the trilogy, reveal themselves to have murdery tendencies. Because of course.

When she isn't doing death-defying stunts with her motorcycle, Rose does tarot readings. More specifically, she is a mysterious woman known as the Sparrow who will, after doing readings for abused women who want to escape their abusers, provide those women with the means to kill their abusers. However, after one of her attempts to help has unintended consequences, Rose decides that it's time for her to take more direct action. This, unfortunately, also does not go as planned, leaving Rose with a broken leg and a very angry pursuer who is now minus one eye.

Fionn is no stranger to violence. He helps Rose get her leg taken care of and, skeptical of her "I was in a motorcycle accident" explanation, offers her a place to stay while she heals up. He's more than a little stunned when Rose immediately starts befriending neighbors he has barely spoken to since he moved to the area to get away from his almost-fiancee. He can't help but find himself charmed by and attracted to her. At the same time, he's worried about what might happen if the monster inside him, the one even his brothers don't know about, finally gets free.

REVIEW: Pikachu's First Friends (picture book) by Rikako Matsuo

Pikachu's First Friends is a fantasy picture book. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Pikachu sets off on a journey to find the perfect place to live. Along the way, it meets several new friends and gets to know a little more about the island on which it has found itself.

The illustrations were, as expected, super-cute. Readers get scenes with Pikachu, Dedenne, Evee, Mime Jr., Smeargle, and Ludicolo, and cameo appearances from Wingull, Gyarados, Krabby, and possibly a few other Pokemon I don't know well enough to name. (Forgive me, I've only played a couple Pokemon games.)

In most cases, the various Pokemon could have been swapped out with just about anything else that might live in a similar environment and it wouldn't have made a difference. I was a little disappointed that the Pokemon didn't get more (or, in most cases, any) opportunities to show off their abilities. 

That said, I'll probably still read Pikachu's Nighttime Adventure at some point.

REVIEW: I'm Sorry for My Loss: An Urgent Examination of Reproductive Care in America (nonfiction) by Rebecca Little and Colleen Long

I'm Sorry for My Loss is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

I knew, going into this, that Little and Long had both experienced late-term pregnancy loss, so I was expecting this to be an exhausting, grief-filled read. Although there were definitely some horrible/sad stories here, this wasn't nearly as exhausting of a read as I expected, in part due to the authors' flashes of dark humor. 

The book started with a look at how pregnancy loss would have been viewed by earlier generations, particular prior to the existence of easily obtainable pregnancy tests and prenatal ultrasounds. Then the authors looked at the many circumstances that could lead to pregnancy loss, the legal complications surrounding pregnancy loss, and the ways in which people who have been through pregnancy loss have processed their experiences.

I don't really feel qualified to write a lengthier review for this, so I'll just say that, for all the humor in this, the anger and frustration was still palpable.

REVIEW: How to Make a Vaccine: An Essential Guide for COVID-19 & Beyond (nonfiction book) by John Rhodes

How to Make a Vaccine: An Essential Guide for COVID-19 & Beyond is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

I was helping a student at the library I work at find immunology books and realized that we don't have paper copies of anything published after 2019. Not super great. We also don't have much of a budget, and what we do spend goes almost entirely into databases and e-books, so I figured I'd read this and donate it.

This was published in 2021. Rhodes goes over the history of immunology and what we currently know about the immune system and how it works. He also discusses the history of vaccines, various types of vaccines, and the various stages of vaccine development. Then he looks at the various COVID-19 vaccine contenders, arranged by class: inactivated whole-virus vaccines, protein subunit vaccines, live attenuated vaccines, nonreplicating viral vector vaccines, replicating viral vector vaccines, virus-like particle vaccines, DNA vaccines, and RNA vaccines. There's a chart of COVID-19 vaccines and vaccine candidates at the end of the book. Rhodes also goes over some vaccination hurdles and how they might be overcome.

This book was maybe not the best place for me to start. Rhodes is an immunologist who definitely seemed to know what he was talking about. Unfortunately, I wasn't always able to follow along with his explanations very well. I really could have used some visual aids.

Still, I appreciated learning a little more about vaccine development in general and the development of COVID-19 vaccines in particular.

REVIEW: The United States of Cryptids: A Tour of American Myths and Monsters (nonfiction book) by J.W. Ocker

The United States of Cryptids is a guide to various cryptids found throughout the United States. It's organized into four sections: the Northeast, the South, the Midwest, and the West. Each cryptid has at least a couple pages devoted to it, including an illustration, information about its type (Mammalian, Humanoid, Aquatic, etc.), its earliest sighting, its size, its location, and any notable features. 

For Ocker, the absolute most important thing is whether there is some form of local celebration or festival devoted to the cryptid, or some form of visible recognition or claiming of it. Cryptids are great tourist attractions, and if a town has a meal or bar named after its local cryptid, Ocker more than likely notes it. In at least a couple instances, Ocker lists cryptids that were invented entirely to attract tourists.

All in all, this was a fun little read. I admit to being a little disappointed that none of the cryptids and their associated museums, festivals, or other attractions were within easy driving distance of me. You'd think at least one of the small towns in my area would have some great cryptid lore, but, as far as I know, all we have are some UFO sightings from a few years back. 

REVIEW: Twisted Visions: The Art of Junji Ito (nonfiction book) art by Junji Ito, translated by Jocelyne Allen

Twisted Visions: The Art of Junji Ito is an art book. I bought my copy new.

Review:

The best thing about Junji Ito's manga is, hands down, his artwork. It's detailed and unsettling. This art book does it justice - most of the artwork is given an entire page to itself, and the page size is nice and large. 

The book starts with a section focused on Tomie, then a section focused on Uzumaki, and finally a more general "other works" section. The back of the book includes a 3-page interview with Ito about his influences and artistic process. Then there's an "index" that includes publication and medium information for each of the book's artworks, as well as short comments from Ito (acrylics are frequently mentioned as a source of frustration and pain).

The color artworks look amazing here. My absolute favorite is probably page 85, the frontispiece for Kyoshitsu Igyo Collection (Fantastical Classroom Collection). A decision was made to print the black-and-white artworks similar to the way the cover art was done - silver on black. I didn't exactly dislike it, but I kind of wished that it had just been printed black on white.

REVIEW: Mal Goes to War (book) by Edward Ashton

Mal Goes to War is science fiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

In the future depicted in this book, humans are at war - it's the Federals (modded and augmented humans) vs. the Humanists (those against modding and augmentation). Mal (short for Malware) couldn't care less about their battles. He's a free AI who's only interested in the tech that he might be able to salvage from whatever the humans leave behind. He's also kind of interested in the novelty of having a body. Which is why he transfers himself into the body of a recently deceased cyborg mercenary. Unfortunately, he didn't count on the Humanists cutting off access to infospace, so now he's stuck inside a rotting body with only a modded girl named Kayleigh (a teen altered to age slowly, so she appears to be a toddler) for company.

Mal and Kayleigh travel together, trying to stay safe from the Humanists. Mal intends to leave the instant he can find a way back into infospace, but that turns out to take longer than he expects. As their journey continues, there are signs that the Humanists might have teamed up with an unexpected ally.

REVIEW: Good Girl, Bad Blood (book) by Holly Jackson

Good Girl, Bad Blood is a YA mystery/thriller, the second in a series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

After the events of the first book, Pip is determined to no longer do detective work. She's still working on her true-crime podcast, but now it's focused on the murder trial related to the case she'd previously investigated. There won't be any new investigations.

That lasts until Connor, a friend of hers, asks for her help after his older brother Jamie goes missing. The cops aren't taking his disappearance seriously because he's disappeared a couple times before and come back, but Connor and his mother are convinced that this time is different.

Pip agrees to look into his disappearance and ask for leads from her podcast listeners. But as she starts to get as obsessed with this case as her previous one, she and those around her wonder whether she can handle this kind of strain again. Surely it's worth it if she can find Jamie, right?

REVIEW: Leather & Lark (book) by Brynne Weaver

Leather & Lark is a dark romance with an edge of suspense and black comedy. It's the second in a trilogy. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This second book in the trilogy stars Lark (indie singer-songwriter, beloved and pampered daughter of the wealthy Covaci family, and serial killer Sloane's best friend) and Lachlan (Rowan's older brother, and a contract killer who'd like to retire and focus on his leatherworking). The first time they meet, Lachlan is wearing a mask and a wetsuit and has been hired to clean up after Lark's latest "accident." What Lark can't bring herself to tell anyone, not even Sloane, is that she's a serial killer who's deliberately targeting men like the teacher who abused her when she was younger. Lachlan, however, assumes she's a spoiled, rich, walking disaster and treats her as such...which gets him in trouble with his boss when it affects his boss's contract with Lark's wealthy father.

A year or so later, Lark learns that someone has been killing members of her family, and that her parents suspect Lachlan might be responsible. Unfortunately, by taking care of this "problem," they'd be hurting Rowan and, by extension, Sloane. Lark can't let that happen, so she latches on to the best solution she can think of - pretend that she and Lachlan have suddenly fallen in love and decided to get married, and then work with Lachlan to find the actual culprit. Lachlan agrees to the plan because mending things with the Covaci family might make his boss more willing to let him retire, and because he genuinely wants to help Lark figure out the truth, but he and Lark haven't exactly gotten along since that time he locked her in the truck of a car. Still, there's an attraction between them, and as they spend more time together they start to realize that they might have misjudged each other.

REVIEW: Perfectly Imperfect Pixie (book) by MJ May

Perfectly Imperfect Pixie is a m/m fantasy romance, the first in a series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Phil (short for Philodendron) is just like any other home-and-hearth pixie - pink wings, long ombre pink hair, and desperate to find a home and family that he can bond with, care for, and protect - except for one thing: he's six feet tall. Unfortunately, the only jobs he seems to be able to find are ones entirely unsuited to his pixie nature. His newest job, as a bouncer, is a disaster.

It's a dream come true when werewolf Sedrick Voss shows up looking for a home-and-hearth pixie who's a bit sturdier than usual. Sedrick has recently become the guardian of his brother's two young children, Ruthie and Dillon, after their parents' untimely death, and he desperately needs help, but young werewolves can be a bit of a handful. Phil seems like a perfect fit.

It starts to look like Phil has finally found the place he belongs. Unfortunately, as Sedrick's custody battle for Ruthie and Dillon heats up, there's an increased risk that Phil will lose his newfound sense of security and happiness.

REVIEW: Fright Night (book) by Maren Stoffels, translated by Laura Watkinson

Fright Night is YA horror. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This follows two groups of characters: Sofia, Dylan, and Quin, a group of friends who've decided to take part in Fright Night, a super-scary event in the woods that tailors its scares to the real-life fears of its participants; and Kelly and Sandy, a pair of troubled teens who've just gotten a part-time job as scarers at Fright Night.

This was marginally better than the other book I read by this author, Escape Room, but still not very good. The translation/writing is stiff and clunky, and the story itself doesn't have anything I'd call scary moments. One of the characters does eat a cockroach on-page, though, so...ew. There's that.

The details of Dylan and Kelly's pasts were relatively interesting, and I felt a bit sorry for them when everything was revealed. Overall, though, this was at best a lukewarm reading experience.

REVIEW: The Neighbor Wager (book) by Crystal Kaswell

The Neighbor Wager is a contemporary romance. I bought my copy new.

Review:

When they were kids, River lived next door to Lexi, the beautiful girl of his dreams, and her sister Deanna. He never really felt like he fit in. Lexi and Deanna basically lived in a mansion, and the only reason River's grandmother could afford to live in the same area was because she'd bought her house ages ago. Meanwhile, his mother was an addict who'd basically left him with his grandmother. Still, that didn't stop him from fantasizing that, one day, Lexi would realize that the two of them were meant to be.

Years later, Deanna and Lexi are in business together, trying to find investors for their dating app, Meetcute. Lexi is in her longest lasting relationship ever, 6 months with a guy she met through the app. Although she's happy, she isn't ready for a commitment, so she's horrified when one of their potential investors wants to make her, her boyfriend, and their future wedding (he hasn't proposed, and she doesn't want him to) the face of the app and the things it can accomplish for users. 

Still, Deanna figures they can work with it somehow. Until River turns up again, and Lexi, who'd previously never paid much attention to him, is suddenly intrigued by his attractive looks and tattoos. Knowing that the future of Meetcute depends upon it, Deanna becomes determined to keep Lexi and River from spending much time with each other. As sparks start to fly between Deanna and River, everyone finds themselves having to figure out how they really feel.

There's also a drunken bet, Lexi taking a brief "break" from her boyfriend, River worrying over his grandmother's health issues, and everyone talking about romance and sex at some point or another, but you get the idea.

REVIEW: The History of the Adventure Video Game (nonfiction book) by Christopher Carton

The History of Adventure Video Games is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This calls itself a history of adventure video games, but in reality it's more like a collection of adventure game descriptions, plus a little more in-depth info about three specific game developers/publishers (Sierra On-Line, LucasArts, and Telltale Games) and their adventure games. If you really want to know more about those companies, however, Wikipedia has more detailed info than this book does.

This is best read as an adventure gaming nostalgia-fest. Almost every adventure game I ever played that I in any way found memorable had an entry here - the only gaps I can think of are the Blackwell series from developer Wadjet Eye Games, Lost in Time (I can't remember whether this or Myst was my first adventure game), and few more recent titles like Fran Bow.

Almost every game mentioned included a screenshot, even the text-based adventures. In the chapters about specific developers, series were discussed in chronological order, so you could see, for example, how the graphics changed throughout the course of the King's Quest series. Each game entry gave an overview of the story and basic gameplay, what made it stand out, how it was received, etc.

As a long-time adventure game fan, I found this to be a fun read, even though it wasn't what I'd expected it to be.