Review 495: Unmade

Unmade by A.R. Capetta
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4 stars for the genre - Science Fiction, Young Adult

It takes a minute to get used to the writing style. But the story line is good. A young girl sets out with her friends to save the humans from being eliminated from the universe. Sad thing is, the ones killing everyone are human too, called the unmakers.

This is a second book of a series. Was a number of years since I read the first book. The series does not continue past this second book. 

Review 319: The Perfect Golden Circle

The Perfect Golden Circle by Benjamin Myers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's the summer of 1989 and two friends, Calvert and Redbone, create crop circles in the night, about one a month in rural England. Each chapter is about the crop circle they create, while interspersing something about the two men so we get to know who they are, both broken in different ways. The crop circles get more intricate with each iteration, leading up to the ultimate one, the Honeycomb Double Helix. At the end of each chapter a short news report provides a glimpse into how their crop circles are being viewed by the public.

Some farmers are not happy about their crops being disturbed, while others have taken the opportunity to showcase the circle and charge visitors to make a little extra money. No one knows who, or what, is creating these intricate designs, and the two boys have a code so they won’t be caught. Of course, UFOs and aliens, or supernatural beings, are talked about the most as how these are appearing so suddenly.

The book is mainly in exposition form, with very little dialogue. The focus is nearly entirely on the crop circles and the designs themselves. We do get a little on how each one of them live, but not an extensive look into their lives.

I really enjoyed the book but felt let down by the intrusion of climate change into the book. The further along in the story the more it took center place, and it felt forced for a book taking place over thirty years ago. This diminished the story for me. Also, I wished for a little more on their lives, what led these two to start doing this. We only know this summer wasn’t their first, and maybe not their last.

Thanks to Melville House Publishing and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 212: Project Hail Mary

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An enjoyable science fiction book that is very deep into science fact. The structure of the book is similar to some others, particularly Weir’s first book The Martian, where once one problem is solved another one crops up. 

This book finds Earth in peril due to something draining the sun’s energy, which once isolated is called astrophage. The substance is also a highly dense energy source that can propel a spaceship to speeds faster than we currently have available. A spaceship The Hail Mary has its mission to go to a nearby star to find out why it doesn’t have the same sun dimming problem, which hopefully will help solve the problem in our own solar system.

One of the best parts of the book was the new alien life. I don’t want to give much away, but I did enjoy that aspect of the book.

The frame of the book is told in current time and many flashbacks. At times it's awkward, or left me wondering why that particular passage was added in. Overall the book isn’t perfect by any means, but I enjoyed the book, and found myself thinking of it, such as what will happen next, when I wasn't reading. If this gets made into a movie like his first book, I’m sure it will do well.

Thanks to Ballantine Books/Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

PS: the cursing language was cut way, way down in this book. 

Previously Read Andy Weir books:

    

    The Martian (5 stars!)

           Read: January 30, 2015 – February 3, 2015

Review 11: Solaris

Solaris by Stanisław Lem
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After trying to watch the movie version (multiple times) of this book and falling asleep every time (maybe both versions) somehow I still was attracted to this story. I didn't expect much given my boredom with the story before. Yet I was riveted to this. I raced through much of the book. Was it due to the narration done by Alessandro Juliani, or the story? I think it was both.

The idea of the others, the visitors and the creepiness was unexpected. One of the main things I remember from the more recent film version was the light. The book mentions the colors of the suns and the light and darkness more than you find in other books. This visual experience almost takes on an aspect of character as well.

Despite my intense fascination with the story when it ended I felt let down. It didn't feel resolved. No, it didn't need to be fully resolved, but I did want a little more with the ending. Perhaps a glimpse that there was some concrete headway into solving the Solaris question these scientists were studying.

I have this feeling a second reading would get more out of the book. Not sure that will happen, at least not sometime soon.