June 2024 Reading
Jul. 2nd, 2024 07:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
adrimettDraw Down the Moon, by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast - Wren isn't supposed to have any magic, being literally born at the wrong time of the month. But when she's suddenly gifted with magic from the moon, she embarks on a journey of learning and mystery that she was entirely unprepared for. Not a bad YA novel, and pretty enjoyable in many respects. It feels a bit like a lot of the YA novels that came out during the late 2000s and early 2010s, only with less dystopian elements. Still very much features an "unimpressive" protagonist who goes on to do very special and impressive things. I can absolutely see why this sort of thing appeals to many folks of all ages; most of us have a bit of a yearning to be plucked from the ordinary and told we're extraordinary. I'll likely continue with this series when more books are released, provided it doesn't end up as bloated as the House of Night series.
The Girl With All the Gifts, by M.R. Carey - The zombie apocalypse is here, brought on by a variant of cordyceps fungus that infects humans. And yes, that sounds exactly like The Last of Us. The two stories stem from the same inspiration. The twist is that some of the infected zombies, referred to as hungries, are not just mindless attack-beasts. Some retain a little bit of their minds, and some of those far more than others. The story centres around a military and scientific attempt to understand and cure the infection using those special hungries as a launching point for the investigation. The book ends up asking a lot of questions about the nature of humanity, whether we become monsters by doing monstrous things and denying others the dignity of demonstrated sentience, and far more fascination thought experiments than I can go into in a quick review like this. Suffice it to say that I really enjoyed the book (and the movie), and my biggest regret is sleeping on it for so long.
Heaven Official's Blessing, vol 7, by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu - 2nd to last book in the series, and it took this long for the story to actually interest me. It's got some weird moments (like a divine "mech" battle), but eh, I'm not into the books enough to really call those moments out as either good or bad. It's not bad overall, not really, but I'm just not that into it, and I'll be glad when I finish the final book and can fulfill my promise to a friend.
Nigeria Jones, by Ibi Zoboi - A teen who was raised inside a Black revolutionary movement starts expanding her world's boundaries and learning more about herself, her place in the world, and the history that drove her to the point where she starts making her own way instead of sticking with the tried-and-true. This is a powerful book and I'm so glad I picked it up at the library because hot damn, it makes waves that need to be made! YA has the wonderful benefit of asking hard questions and addressing hard topics while remaining accessible by necessity, and so it's amazing for making readers confront uncomfortable realities. Seriously, if you like contemporary YA or want to learn more about the issues many Black people face in America (not just America, but that's what the book focuses on given the setting), then absolutely read Nigeria Jones!
The Girl With All the Gifts, by M.R. Carey - The zombie apocalypse is here, brought on by a variant of cordyceps fungus that infects humans. And yes, that sounds exactly like The Last of Us. The two stories stem from the same inspiration. The twist is that some of the infected zombies, referred to as hungries, are not just mindless attack-beasts. Some retain a little bit of their minds, and some of those far more than others. The story centres around a military and scientific attempt to understand and cure the infection using those special hungries as a launching point for the investigation. The book ends up asking a lot of questions about the nature of humanity, whether we become monsters by doing monstrous things and denying others the dignity of demonstrated sentience, and far more fascination thought experiments than I can go into in a quick review like this. Suffice it to say that I really enjoyed the book (and the movie), and my biggest regret is sleeping on it for so long.
Heaven Official's Blessing, vol 7, by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu - 2nd to last book in the series, and it took this long for the story to actually interest me. It's got some weird moments (like a divine "mech" battle), but eh, I'm not into the books enough to really call those moments out as either good or bad. It's not bad overall, not really, but I'm just not that into it, and I'll be glad when I finish the final book and can fulfill my promise to a friend.
Nigeria Jones, by Ibi Zoboi - A teen who was raised inside a Black revolutionary movement starts expanding her world's boundaries and learning more about herself, her place in the world, and the history that drove her to the point where she starts making her own way instead of sticking with the tried-and-true. This is a powerful book and I'm so glad I picked it up at the library because hot damn, it makes waves that need to be made! YA has the wonderful benefit of asking hard questions and addressing hard topics while remaining accessible by necessity, and so it's amazing for making readers confront uncomfortable realities. Seriously, if you like contemporary YA or want to learn more about the issues many Black people face in America (not just America, but that's what the book focuses on given the setting), then absolutely read Nigeria Jones!