😍😍😍 Adrian Tchaikovsky's Science Fiction and a Memoir by Amy Griffin

 

The more I read of Adrian Tchaikovsky, the more respect I have for his creative way of thinking about the intersection of science, the unknown, and the maybe possible. Alien Clay reminds me of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago because it is set in a deadly labor camp on a prison planet called Kiln. The leadership, the Commander, wants to make scientific discoveries that will make him famous. He drives his prisoners to make discoveries that conform to "acceptable" science on a planet seeking to colonize the bodies and minds of the humans transplanted there. It's terrifically creepy and scary with enough science to feel plausible. 

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    I don't know how I came across the book. I was on a waiting list for it and jumped into reading before realizing it was a memoir, not a novel. In The Tell, "tell" has several meanings. One is a "tell" that gives observers an understanding about someone they don't have, like an eye twitch when you're lying or crossing your arms when feeling attacked. Amy Griffin's tell was her perfectionism. Another meaning is "to tell." As one of her daughters pointed out, a part of Amy Griffin feels missing. Griffin explores why she is that way. The book starts with trigger warnings about sexual abuse, so the reader can guess at what will be discovered. Griffen had buried her horrendous abuse so profoundly that she didn't remember it. Brains are excellent at protecting us from damage. What saves us children, eats us up as adults. I appreciate Amy Griffin's forthrightness and gentleness in sharing her trek as she comes to know and tell her story.

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    And Put Away Childish Things and The Expert System's Brother by Adrian Tchaikovsky have wildly different environments and characters, but they are similar. I have fallen into a spiral of reading Adrian Tchaikovsky, and I'm loving it. These short books are quite different, but they share the common theme of how to make sense of the protagonist's mysterious, dangerous world.  Who am I? What is my place in it? Those ideas probably all fit under the coming-of-age trope. 

    There is an idea that writers only write one book over and over. Adrian Tchaikovsky does a fantastic job of world-building each place and populating it with emotionally authentic characters doing weird stuff, in weird places, with weird companions and enemies. He is thought-provoking and entertaining. And sometimes a bit creepy.

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🤖🛸🐷🚀🧑‍🚀👯AI Friend or Foe? Two Books Explore

 

    I enjoy Adrian Tchaikovsky's science fiction and have read several of his books, like his Children of Time series. Service Model takes place on Earth. The protagonist is a valet robot named Charles whose days are an endless repetition of caring for his master, the only human in the house, that is run and maintained by robots. One day, Charles does something he'd never done before, changing everything for him, for robots, and for the world. This started slowly, but I persevered and was captivated by the ideas, the mysterious plot, and by Charles. It reminded me of Pinocchio. Charles goes through different places and experiences, meeting big, exploitative characters with his sidekick that doubles as the voice in his head that leads him toward his big moment.

 Here are reviews of other Adrian Tchaikovsky books: https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/search?q=Adrian

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    Come & Get It by Kiley Reid has a cast of eight women. Their backstories have similarities, but differ in how family and authorities respond. Once, a character, when she was sixteen, almost hit a man with her car, and he had a heart attack and died. She receives support, counseling, and understanding. Another character accidentally kills a dog, and she is shamed and shunned. Reid weaves these experiences into the choices they make in the book. As someone who frequently wonders what causes someone to do, say, or act in unwise ways, I found this book fascinating. It has a large build-up to a critical moment. The aftermath is surprising to me. Reid's writing is tight and suspenseful. 

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   I have recently discovered the writer Mur Lafferty, a Hugo Award Finalist. She writes Sci-Fi that reminds me of Connie Willis, my favorite author. When I visited her website (https://murverse.com/about/), I saw that Connie Willis is one of her influential authors. This week, I listened to Six Wakes. A spaceship carries six crew members to a planet to colonize life. Cloning technology has been established, and many people use it to extend their lives. Maria Arena awakens in a clone vat without memories of her time on the ship save for her orientation: meaning she has died and the last mind map available for her clone is the start of the voyage. Around her are her fellow crew members also emerging from clone vats, plus several dead bodies. It is a locked room mystery. One of the crew members killed the others and then died as well. But no one has memories of their last days, which makes it difficult to know who to trust. Maria, the lowliest member of the crew, races to solve the mystery before the killer remembers and seeks to accomplish their mission. A great book from a sci-fi perspective, not only predicting cloning but also many of the problems surrounding clones. The book is a tantalizing mystery. So good!

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🤖Surprise! No Dragons This Week, but Plenty of Aliens 👽, Books 📚, and Creepy Dystopian Future📱

 

    Hum by Helen Phillips is a look into a possible dystopian future. I found it scary because it felt so very possible. A woman loses her job teaching AI how to be more human. In financial desperation, she agrees to an experimental surgical procedure that would make her unreadable to the ubiquitous surveillance, screens, and targeted advertising that pervades every aspect of living. With the money, she buys her family an extravagant trip to a hotel/botanical garden. There, they smell unpolluted air, drink untainted water, and lie in the grass under a tree. An impossibility in their current city life in a cramped apartment, where they are behind in the rent. She hopes this time in paradise will be a respite from their daily lives, but even there, serpents hide.

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    Mark Lawrence's library trilogy ends with The Book That Held Her Heart. Lawrence finishes well. It is obvious Lawrence is well-versed in fantasy literature, and there are Easter Eggs in the text that made me smile. The main characters, Livira and Evar, are apart in time and space and seek a way back toward each other, and want to end the great war at the heart of the library. Lawrence tackles the scourge of tribalism and the need for a common enemy to rally against. The characters visit a Jewish book store in Nazi Germany on Kristallenacht and find similarities to their world. The infinite library is troubled, and its structure is collapsing. The final book is a fitting conclusion to a great series.

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    My favorite author is Connie Willis, who writes incredible science fiction, and Mur Lafferty has a similar vibe. I reaher series'she first and second booes: The Midsolar Murders. The first book, Station Eternity, introduces Mallory Viridian, who seems to have the unfortunate ability to attract murder. Wherever she goes, murders happen, which she then solves. The police and the FBI suspect her even though she solves each murder--and there are many. Her family and friends recognize that she's innocent, but still fear being collateral damage and keep their distance. So she travels to a space station with only two other humans to live among multiple alien species, hoping her murder curse won't follow her there. Guess what happens? The premise is clever and well thought out. Malory makes friends among the variety of sentient beings who dwell there. It is as if Star Trek and Murder She Wrote had a space baby that lived in Cabot Cove.

    After finishing the first, I immediately started the second book, Chaos Terminal. Lafferty continues the story. More humans visit Eternity with designs on exploiting the aliens for their own nefarious reasons. As Mallory would say, it's all about the connections.

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🐺💧🐺Mystery, ❤️‍🩹Romance, and 🐷High and 🐉Low Fantasy

    The Grey Wolf is #19 in the series, Chief Inspector Armande Gamache by Louise Penny. I can count on Penny to bring a sly humor, intriguing mystery, and mouth-watering food descriptions. Her latest book is as twisty and heartwarming as her previous ones. I remember watching the Starsky and Hutch TV show. In one show, Hutch's fiancée is killed. In the next episode, it's back to business as usual. Louis Penny's characters are continually affected by what has happened to them in previous books. It makes them more life-like and vulnerable. Her plots are usually based in the terrible possible--like terrorist attacks or greed overriding compassion. This is one of my favorite mystery series.

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    Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert is the first book I've read by the British Romance writer. She writes funny, sarcastic characters that deal with relatable issues like chronic illness and social anxiety without resorting to easy answers. Her main character, Chloe Brown, is trying to figure out life with fibromyalgia, so she makes a list of scary things to do, like go camping and travel the world with nothing but hand luggage. She is bright and struggling. She meets her new building super, another wounded person trying to find his footing after being knocked down by life. It adheres to the Rom-com rules. You know they'll end up together, but the journey there is fun. 

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    I read the series, The Chronicles of Prydain, by Lloyd Alexander, many years ago in middle school. My book club is reading Newbery award winners, and this month we read the final book in the series, The High King. I have enjoyed the books we've read, but this one wasn't a great read on its own because it is the culmination of the series. The events in the previous books are dim in my memory. I could tell that an interaction or character was significant, but I didn't know why. To fully enjoy this book, I would need to read the entire series. The large cast of characters was skillfully rendered with distinctive mannerisms and voices. My primary feeling upon finishing the book was disappointment that I hadn't started at the beginning. Lloyd Alexander's characters agonize over choices that resonate. I recommend the series, especially for middle schoolers.

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    The Black Powder War is book #3 of the Temeraire series. Our dragon, Temeraire, is still in China, where he originated. Life for dragons in China is integrated with everyday life, and dragons are treated as equals, in contrast with Britain, where dragons are considered domesticated beasts on the level of a horse. Lawrence, his captain, wrestles with wanting Temeraire to flourish and also serve the British nation honorably. That is a moral dilemma that has grown throughout the series so far. Lawrence is portrayed as quite conventional despite being in the Dragon Corps. It is the height of the Napoleonic War, and Britain is in danger from Napoleon. 

    The history aspect is interesting. It has caused me to look at several Wikipedia articles, and I want to read a book about them when I find one I like. At times, the pace of the story suffers from getting bogged down in the minutiae of the war; however, there are still dragons. Novik has considered how dragons would best be deployed as a fighting force.

 I look forward to continuing the series.

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🐉 Dragons, 🐦‍⬛Avenging Birds, and 😐 Noobs

 

Book two of the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik takes place in China, where dragons are more commonplace than in England. I like how Novik thinks about several aspects of a world with dragons, like whether a country could raise enough food to support dragons and dragon bloodlines. Book two wasn't as exciting as book one, but the British and dragons are compelling. I plan to continue reading the series until I finish all nine books, though not urgently. The writing and plot are solid.

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  Lucy Foley excels at writing creepy, suspenseful stories full of broken, struggling people who hurt others and themselves. It gave me pause when I was deciding whether or not to read The Midnight Feast. I know I will go down the dark alleys of the human experience. She has unforeseen zigzags to the final page. There is no moment I can let my guard down because there is a plot twist to reveal. The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley is a suspenseful, bleak mystery that kept me guessing. Her characters are layers of light and shadow. The ending was immensely satisfying.

https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/search?q=The+Paris+Apartment

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    Audible gave me a free listen to the Lit RPG The Mayor of Noobtown by Ryan Rimmel. This is an eight-book series, so if they hook me, it's to their financial advantage. It is a lightweight, fun book. The premise (like most Lit RPGs) is that a real person finds themselves in some sort of video game needing to survive by leveling up and defeating monsters. The humor is juvenile, so it made me smile. Having a pet or magical creature as a guide is a feature of all Lit RPGs. Jim, the main character, is stuck with an unreliable guide, a level one demon needing his help. It creates an interesting symbiotic relationship. The book ends on a cliffhanger. 

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