book review
Books reviews of the best science fiction stories, texts, educational texts, and journals.
Book Review - Thorn
One of the latest YA fairytale adaptations to gain the attention of fantasy enthusiasts is Intisar Khanani’s Thorn, which puts a creative spin on the Brothers Grimm story The Goose Girl. Khanani first begun writing the story in 2001 when she was in college. She published Thorn independently as an e-book in 2012, but strong word of mouth led to YA Publishers HarperTeen buying it in October 2017. After Khanani did some revisions and edits, Thorn was published physically earlier this year. The UK publication of the novel was handled by Hot Key Books, who also published Stepsister and Robin Hood: Hacking, Heists and Flaming Arrows.
By Fairy Tale Fanboy5 years ago in Futurism
Sirens Unbound:Fifth Mage War Series Book One by Laura Engelhardt
Tagline: A magical epic about sirens, fae, and family ties. Book Description Siren's Unbound is an epic urban fantasy published in July of 2019 with a beautiful cover by artist Rena Violet and an astounding story written by Laura Engelhardt. Here is a short description of what the author provided me.
By Spirit Guide Communication through the Art of Divination5 years ago in Futurism
Review of Tobias Cabral's 'New Eyes'
Tobias Cabral picked a good time to send me his 2018 novel New Eyes for review. Mars is in the air. Actually, it's always been in the air, or at least, at the top of the air, in the sky. But NASA's Perseverance is on its way to Mars, with a landing date in February of next year. Elon Musk wants to colonize the Red Planet (I'm 100% on board, here's a talk I gave at the 19th Annual International Mars Society Convention at The Catholic University in Washington, DC on 23 September 2016):
By Paul Levinson5 years ago in Futurism
Book Review: The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
Despite being a war orphan, the dark-skin peasant girl, Rin, surprises her entire village when she aces an Empire-wide test called the Keju through hard work and dedication. Rather than help further her guardians' criminal enterprise or live out the rest of her life serving someone - Rin seeks her path in the prestigious Imperial Academy of Sinegard.
By Danny Buell6 years ago in Futurism
Review: The Ambassador of Earth
Overview Have you ever wondered what is out there in the corners of the universe? What treasures could be found in the far reaches into outer space? Life? Minerals? Gold? What if mankind found an ancient civilisation? What would we do?
By Jerry Angas6 years ago in Futurism
Brett Petersen’s The Parasite from Proto Space & Other Stories
Brett Petersen’s The Parasite from Proto Space & Other Stories has been compared to the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Ursula Le Guin, and Charles Bukowski, among others. Suppose I told you that I not only agreed, but added Frank Herbert, Sam Delany, and Olaf Stapledon to that lustrous list, and added them after reading just the first two stories in Petersen’s anthology. In the words of Ringo, would you stand up and walk out on me? If you did, that would be your loss.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
"Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell
It has been a while since I first read “Cloud Atlas” by David Mitchell. I was sixteen years’ old and my first reading experience of it basically blew my mind. I stayed up all night making notes, drawing sketches of characters and by the morning, I was not only insanely tired, but I had a whole notebook filled with masses and masses of information about the book. I had handwritten over one hundred pages of notes, quotations, sketches, drawings, opinions, lists and so many other things. This would be an annual thing and now I can’t live without the book. I still have my copy from all the way back then. I used it at university for one of my essays and it’s now covered in notes and highlighting. Now, my copy is safely tucked into a box under my bed and I take it out every now and again, I was reading it the night before my twenty-first birthday, at Christmas whilst I was twenty-three and I read it recently and the ripe age of twenty-four. It changed my entire opinion on the very limitations of literature. The truth is: there are no limitations.
By Annie Kapur6 years ago in Futurism
ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE, MANY POSSIBILITIES
I’ll begin with a brief paragraph describing my regular daily routine. At 5am I wake up and do a couple of hours of mindfulness exercises prior to getting out of bed. As soon as I pull off my blankets I start looking for my clothes and begin to get dressed. Once I’m fully dressed I have my breakfast, medication and finish everything that I need to do before I begin my work. If at home during the day I write my blogs, answer various emails or do work on my business. Sometimes I go out on weekdays for travel training with a support person. Perhaps I’ll go to the shops and buy a few things that I need/want; or maybe I’ll visit places such as our local historical village which is so fascinating and run by lovely people. Many younger people have become more interested in this place after a paranormal show investigated the site and reported it to contain a few ghosts. Once I return home (and/or finish my work) in the evening I have dinner, have a shower, brush my teeth, watch television, play Minecraft, pull on my pyjamas and read in bed before falling asleep at around 11pm.
By Rebecca Sharrock6 years ago in Futurism
African Myths of Origin
“African Myths of Origin” is a book that concerns the different regions of Africa, their creation stories and theme-based narratives. Themes of hunting, food, humanity, morality, death and dying, the Gods, supernatural ability, war and battle, masculinity vs. femininity and others prove that these stories are not only well-written and sophisticated but also prove that these narrators understand the very essences of human existence. Along with the ability to make it into an entertaining narrative, a lot of these stories echo and almost Biblical experience of life. The outline of the book is to treat these historical stories as a part of a geographical location and an entire population of people. The most notable thing is how all of these themes link together to make a narrative that contains a teaching, a tale and characters who are relatable to any time and place. As the narrative states on the theme of hunting: “the original human lifestyle is foraging mixed with hunting.” (p.3). Thus showing that the nature of humans looking for food is not only important thematically to the stories, but is also a quintessential part to every human no matter upon place, time etc. Past, present and future, humans will always require food to survive and this is only one of the bases of human existence that is seen in the book.
By Annie Kapur6 years ago in Futurism
BOOK REVIEW: ON A BLUE MOON: THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEYS BY WILLOW
RATING: 4/5 FORMAT: PAPERBACK The lives of a man from Earth, an alien being, and a young girl converge on a moon deep in space. A violent act is the spark that ignites incredible journeys. The moon has three human societies. In each society there is an evil presence that the man, girl, their friends, and their loved ones must confront, or flee from. In the end, life on that moon is vastly transformed. Willow is the author of ON A BLUE MOON. That tale, and the five to follow, are based on her experiences, and the accounts related to her by the many beings she has known, both human and nonhuman. Those tales are collectively THE DAUGHTERS OF FIRTH TALES. At the beginning of each tale, after the Prologue and before the first chapter, Willow and her daughter, Frither, are together and interacting. Their banter is the thread that ties the six tales together by providing an introduction to each tale, and a hint about what’s to come. Sam is the main protagonist at the beginning of ON A BLUE MOON. As it and future tales progress, Willow, Frither, and the other daughters of Firth, become the driving force. Earth, as viewed from space, is primarily blue. So is Bluemoon. Bluemoon represents a much less complex version of Earth, yet possess some of the malignant forces of our “real world”: a malicious leader of an autocratic society, a ruthless despot who has his henchmen kill anyone who dares oppose him, racism, and environmental destruction. Shadow, an alien Meddler, represents an uncontrollable force that drastically alters Sam’s life’s journey, and that of the inhabitants of Bluemoon. Similar to how forces beyond our control shape our lives on Earth. Overriding everything else, the tales are about the courage of individuals intervening to protect the vulnerable, while so many others observe but do nothing.
By Ashley Nestler, MSW6 years ago in Futurism
Everything You Ever Wanted by Luiza Sauma Book Review
Imagine a refreshing coming-of-age dystopian novel set within very dreary and dull modern-day London, depicting a protagonist living an underwhelming, relatable yet horrific existence, who decides to start her life afresh on another planet. That is the context of Everything You Ever Wanted (EYEW) in one sentence. In words, simply "unassuming yet powerful and prolific". The story is told by a young-ish depressed woman named Iris, a Digital Innovation Architect for a company, who often rolls her eyes when she tells anyone her pretentious job title and laughs at what little significance the words have in the grand-scheme of the Universe. She has a lot of complex modern wants, worries and desires, but above all she wishes her life had a greater fulfilling purpose. Her situation is one that I'm sure many of us are fairly familiar with; she feels her life in the modern world is hopeless, ungratifying, and she craves some kind of deeper satisfaction from her actions. So when the opportunity arises for her to change her state of existence completely, she jumps at it and goes to live on the planet Nyx. For the rest of us, sadly, picking up our roots and starting afresh is much more diificult. The only catch is that when she leaves, she can never return.
By Laura Watt6 years ago in Futurism
