bookwhurm

[bookwhurm]

Xenocide by Orson Scott Card

With the FULL disclaimer that the author has said some unacceptable and heinous things, I’m still going to write about the book (from my phone before I forget to write it at all).

This novel was not my favorite of the series so far. It dragged in some places where it got bogged down with technical jargon to the point where I had to listen to the audiobook while doing something else. But the ideas presented in the book were also too intriguing for me to put the book down and not finish it. At the same time, you could tell it was a setup for the next book with the large amount of exposition within it.

I loved the conversations between the hive queen and the father tree (I can’t actively remember if it was Router or Human) at the beginning of each chapter. It gave us a different point of view from the conversations the humans had with each species. It also brought to light the strengths and weaknesses of the species during these discussions. One of my favorites was when the Hive Queen discussed how humans think so many things in so many different ways and perhaps that makes us brilliant even if only 1 out of every 1000 ideas is good because that’s still more ideas than they can come up with for any given problem. Even though THEIR idea is the correct one all along (which seems to not be true, their memory just changes as information changes). I also liked the perspectives of the species towards each other. Like how the Hive Queen said the pequenino mind is more simple than that of a human.

The introduction of the new planet Path was an interesting choice (again probably more setup for the next book) but also was pivotal in the discoveries made about faster than light travel across the universe and the descolada. It’s a shame that Qing-jao did not have a redemption arc like I thought she was going to. She simply wanted her parents and the Gods love so badly she refused to stray from her ways even after everyone else did.

I feel like everyone else has done justice to the Peter and Young Valentine introductions. There really isn’t much to say that hasn’t been said. Although I’m interested to see what Ender is like in the next book without those parts of his aiúa in him or if they ever go back into him.

Rating: 7/10 It wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t as good as the other books in the series that I’ve read so far.

#ender’s game series #Xenocide by orson Scott card #orson Scott card #book review

[bookwhurm]

Animal Farm by George Orwell

I’m rendered almost speechless by the relevancy of this title in the world we live in today that was written and published 78 years ago. It’s historically relevant and apparently one of the most devastating blows to Stalin’s agenda.

The thing that I fear the most is how it is still applicable in so many ways. It shows the tools that can be used to achieve a totalitarian government. The steps that need to be taken. They almost always form an “other” to be against. What was once the humans who indeed were taking advantage of them, it then became Snowball, then the nearby farmers. Whichever suited their agenda. Whichever kept the animals from turning inward with their suspicion and kept their worries outside of the ruling of the farm. The 7 commandments were constantly altered, but the intelligence of the pigs and the inability for many of the animals to read and write left the interpretation of it’s history entirely up to the pigs instead of the other animals they ruled over. The speeches and persuasive nature of Squealer was convincing propaganda that soothed any fears of the animals while the part of the sheep (this analogy was not lost on me) was to constantly chant whatever nonsense that Napoleon chose at times when protest was most imminent. To drown out whatever dissent was possible and confuse the masses. It’s hard to think over the shouting of short, catchy phrases.

The complete hypocrisy of the pigs to defy all the commandments by the end of the novel was astounding and it took me by surprise that none of the animals showed any dissent, though it’s not hard to imagine why when compared to the  many humans have turned the same blind eye for atrocities committed in their own countries. As an American, some that I can think of in the past decade were the imprisonment and separation of children of immigrants (the camps of children that no American did anything worth noting about, including me), the increase of rage against any and all racial/ethnic groups especially in the era of the Trump administration (starting with his campaigning against Mexican-Americans and how they ruin the country to the eventual physical abuse that happened to older Asian-Americans because of Covid-19), the continual divide in the classes to the point where most Americans only own 7% of the capital of the country combined (don’t quote me on that, this is from memory), and the events leading up to the 2020 protests for Black Lives Matter.

The important thing to take away from this novel is that while one person alone can’t take on the entirety of the system that was inherently built against them, it takes one person to stand up and rally while the support from those that believe in that message is the most integral to change. Groups accomplish change, whether it’s slowly or quickly like the rebellion on the farm. It also is a grim reminder to stick to your own guns and come to your own conclusions. To not base your beliefs only on what you are told and whichever statistics and facts are hand fed to you, but to do your own research from many different sources. To protect your beliefs and ideals even when you’re told otherwise.

Rating: 10/10 - How could it be anything else

#animal farm #george orwell #book review

[bookwhurm]

Ruinsong by Julia Ember

A YA novel with an interesting magic system in a woman dominated universe.

I purchased this book as a “blind date with a book” and it was described as:

- Childhood friend to enemies to lovers trope

- Bewitching and emotionally devastating in the best way

- Immersive queer fantasy tale

All of which sounded right up my alley so I obviously purchase it.

Spoilers Ahead:

This novels magic system and kingdom are all woman dominated which is amazing. The magic occurs through singing that is granted specifically by the goddess of summer. There are 4 goddesses for all 4 seasons and they give gifts to children born in their months. I wish this was explored more and could read a whole novel written like a history book on the magic system and their goddesses.

I didn’t realize this was a YA book when I bought it as it was a blind date with a book, but it did say that those on that specific shelf were suitable for those 14+, but I didn’t realize that meant it was really YA. You know how some YA is categorized in bookstores at YA, but is actually more New Adult? I thought it was something like that. I was wrong. It is truly written like a normal YA novel which is not a bad thing. I have just personally moved onto novels written in a different kind of way. With more nuance.

I did appreciate, however, how morally grey Candace is written. She’s just doing the best with what she has, though she doesn’t seem to stop and wonder if there could be more that she could be doing against the evil queen since she is fearful and doesn’t think that anything can be done.

Remi is a noblewoman who doesn’t seem to have empathy for the things that Candace has been through despite supposedly liking her. She things Candace is a coward (understandably so), but doesn’t stop to think about what losing things would mean for Candace, even though I understand how Remi puts her family before everything else, she doesn’t seem to have a lot of stock in actually doing things herself.

Neither of the main characters really drive the revolution at all. It seems as if they hopped on the bandwagon towards the latter part of the book and were given a lot more credit than was due. The development of the romance also didn’t make sense to me. I understand falling in love because of proximity, but there didn’t really seem to be a REASON for them to fall in love. They just kind of did. 

Overall, I did enjoy reading for the magic system and I couldn’t have DNR’d it because I did want to know what happened next, but I do wish it could’ve been fleshed out more and had more nuances. I understand this is YA, however, but that doesn’t mean the writing couldn’t have been improved. The characters descriptions also included race which was refreshing because not knowing exactly what characters looked like always kind of frustrates me when I read and having to read about someone with my skin color described as food colored gets annoying after awhile. Although I do feel like it did nothing but highlight the lack of diversity within the main cast. But I liked the book for what it was.

Rating: 5/10

#Ruinsong #Julia Ember #Ruinsong by Julia Ember #book review #spoilers

[bookwhurm]

A Touch of Jen by Beth Morgan

It took me two days to finish this book and it is notably the first of the horror genre that I’ve ever read rather than watched so that will definitely influence how I felt about it.

CW/TW: Eating Disorder, Abusive Relationships

Spoilers Ahead:

The book began as rooted in reality, though a very unhinged reality with obviously neurodivergent main characters. Remy comes off as an abusive and narcissistic boyfriend. He literally wanted to be meaner to his girlfriend while they were waiting for the bus/train/whatever, but chose not to because of the people all around them and he didn’t want to be perceived as a bad boyfriend, even though he was. He only uses people throughout the book for what they can give him. Alicia only meant as much to him for how she cleaned the apartment and could judge people with him. After she died, he seemed to appreciate her more than when she was alive. Similar to how he liked Jen more when she was more of an unreachable fantasy than when he got to know her.

Alicia is also suffering from mental health issues, though my mediocre psych minor didn’t really give me the tools to really dissect the things she was going through. She was previously suffering from bulimia and brings this up in front of Jen and her friends at the beach vacation they all took together, even though this event is her first time meeting them. Big mood and definitely something I’ve done before I got help, but she really was a lonely character clinging to the relationships that she did have in any way she could. It wasn’t until she adopted her Alicia-as-Jen attitude towards the end of the book that she seemed less anxious about messing things up by simply breathing. She suffered an unfortunate death within the book and it really felt like a shit thing to do. I know death in the real world happens without pomp and circumstance. Crazy things happen and suddenly someone is gone. This was portrayed well by Alicia’s death and was pivotal to the eventual murder of Jen and Alicia being brought back in Jen’s body, but it still seemed too quick for me. I personally didn’t like how her death was handled, but understand why it was done the way it was.

Jen was the topic of all of Remy and Alicia’s relationship, going so far as to have Alicia roleplay as Jen, and it was super weird and incredibly obsessive. From their descriptions of her, I didn’t even think of her as all that attractive and her personality was absolutely awful. She was a real character though. All of them were. These were people you could know in your day to day life and I appreciated that about this book and probably this genre. The characters were all unlikeable. That was probably the point, but it was interesting to me since I usually read things that involve more romance, thus the people were usually never THIS awful to each other.

This novel ended with a huge suspension of disbelief. The beginning that was rooted in reality was slowly broken apart by weird occurrences happening throughout the book, but the ending of suddenly all the spiritual nonsense that was being talked about through the book actually being true and the existence of ACTUAL MONSTERS was a lot to happen at once and I was not prepared to accept that it was actually occurring. Especially throughout the end when Alicia is resurrected in Jen’s body.

Overall, I enjoyed the read. I don’t know much about horror novels and that’s probably what threw me off from enjoying it entirely. I wasn’t expecting the ending to include actual monsters from other dimensions.

Rating: 7/10

#a touch of jen #beth morgan #a touch of jen by beth morgan

[bookwhurm]

I just finished Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzales (at 6:50 in the morning, but so worth it).

This novel has so many parts to relate to. It’s an enemies to lovers slow burn on a reality TV show where the girls are pitted against each other for the chance to date their ex (a new heartthrob on the scene because his sister became princess of a European country). To make matters worse, the ex bf actually cheated on them with each other and has just enough charisma to convince everyone that the girl he cheated on was actually a clingy, jealous liar. Cue extreme anger at the first quarter of the book for everyone gaslighting this poor girl.

The author did such a good job with the disaster bi jokes, the biting sarcasm for the ex, everyone coming to terms with how much of a dickbag this ex bf is, the slow burn of the girls falling for each other and the inevitable bi panic of “does she even like women…? If she likes women does she even like ME?” “She said she likes when women do this thing BUT does this mean she likes it aesthetically or like…sexually?”, dealing with past traumas (Skye does NOT like opening up and boy do I relate super hard - also I may have misread it, but I’m pretty sure she has autism which was unexpected. It was awesome though bc I’ve been consuming more romantic stories with autistic main characters - anything written by Helen Hoang who I LOVE - and they’re just super relatable). There’s also a multicultural cast ALL AROUND which was so refreshing (had a difficult time keeping the accents straight in my head but that’s a me problem) and didn’t take away from the narrative but DEFINITELY ADDED TO IT.

There are amazingly quotable one liners that really were a gut punch. One that I’m definitely paraphrasing is about living your life the way you want to instead of in the fear of being perceived as a failure by everyone. Something like that. It really made me take a deep look into myself.

While the characters are all around 18-21 they don’t push the college narrative as the only way like you usually see in books with main characters around that age group (or at least books that aren’t fantasy?).

Overall, I absolutely enjoyed my read and the rollercoaster of emotions it put me through. It ended absolutely satisfactorily where she did the right thing, got the girl AND revenge was still served (just maybe not in the way you thought it would be).

#never ever getting back together #book review #or #perhaps more like a #book summary

[bookwhurm]

It’s 2023 and I started off the year with The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires.

Can I just say that I am impressed? Grady Hendrix did such a wonderful job weaving together this story of Southern Moms in a book club with absolute taste. The way the topics of race, white privilege, and sexism in the south were all tastefully woven in was amazing. I’m not a mother, but I feel like the mindset of a mother was so well written as well. I feel like I can tell this author has a lot of empathy to be able to get into that role so well.

The frustration at being taken for granted while putting in all this tangible AND invisible work around the house while being ignored and straight up belittled by their husbands was so well written. I was fuming. Mixed in with the racial relationships with the white women being able to turn their backs on little black children getting hurt and going missing as long as it wasn’t happening in THEIR town to THEIR kids bc it’s easier to turn their backs and pretend it’s all okay.

#first thoughts #first draft #the southern book club's guide to slaying vampires