Category: Sci-fi

‘Shatter City’ – Scott Westerfeld

Sometimes the second book in a series doesn’t really capture your imagination, though it sets things in place. I honestly didn’t feel that – as there’s a lot of distractions here to flesh characters out and start to develop the bigger picture.

Having willingly chosen to remain behind, Frey now has to convince everyone she is her sister. She puts in place a plan to marry Col and seems to be in support of her father. The menace coming from this guy cannot be underestimated – when he tells Frey the plans he has to maintain power over the city of Paz, it made my heart sink somewhat.

To cut a long story short, Frey finds herself outside the protection of all she’s loved as she tries to find her sister and save a city. There’s a lot of events that take place to keep you entertained, yet they all seem to fit within the bigger picture of what is to come.

Clear parts to this keep the story moving nicely, and there’s plenty of hints about characters/events that really have me quite excited about what’s to come.

 

‘The Chosen’ -Taran Matharu

 

 

An intriguing idea, and a bit of an odd one – though I can see this Maze Runner-style scenario going down well with certain readers. Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this prior to publication.

This is one of those books that may not appeal to everyone, but it certainly entertains.

Our main character, Cade, is in trouble when he is accused of stealing laptops and trying to sell them at school. He’s encouraged to plead guilty, and is given the opportunity to attend an alternative place for his punishment. Along with a number of other boys who are accused of crimes they didn’t commit, Cade is resigned to a rather odd existence.

One day – for reasons I am still unclear about – Cade finds himself in an unfamiliar scenario being attacked by strange creatures (what he refers to as piranha chimps). Along with others from his ‘school’ he learns he’s been plunged into a game. Nobody knows who’s in charge or what they’ll win for playing, but it seems their lives depend on it.

At this point things get very odd. They learn they’re facing death and encounter creatures that haven’t existed for millions of years.

Although there’s lots of action, we’re never sure what’s at the root of this or able to see the characters develop particularly. The ending came about very quickly and once we learn what’s behind this situation it does rather require us to suspend our disbelief.

‘This Cruel Design’ by Emily Suvada

Unashamedly delights in its scientific premise, and definitely pushes the boundaries of what we believe makes us human.

Cat has been left in a difficult situation. Able to genetically alter, and code in a way not known by many, she is seen as the answer to so many problems. Unfortunately these skills also make her a target for others with their own agenda.

This time round we follow Cat as she tries to sort out the virus threatening the world. Her attempts to spread the vaccine have failed, and now she has only three days before a major organisation threaten to eradicate people who pose a threat. Even though he has done awful things, Cat’s only hope seems to be to find Lachlan, but she may have to put her trust in others in order to manoeuvre into a stronger position.

This felt like a step towards something much bigger, but there were some quite surprising revelations that prevented this feeling like a filler. I was quite blown away by what we learned about Cat, and the plans for the future have me desperate for January 2020 when the final part of the trilogy is scheduled for release.

 

‘Impostors’ – Scott Westerfeld

I cannot believe that Uglies was released so long ago (in 2005), but in the first of this new series we are taken back to the world. This time round, though, Tally and her rebellion have led to some difficult circumstances and the leading families are struggling to keep order.

Impostors is a story that kept its hardest punch until the bitter end.

Frey and Rafi are identical twins, and their father is one of the ruling first family leaders. However, few people know about Frey. She is hidden away and trained to kill. Her one job is to take Rafi’s place at any potentially dangerous scenario.

Once we’ve been introduced to the pair, we learn that Frey has been asked to pretend to be Rafi as she visits another leading family. Though it seems a positive step, we learn she’s going as a hostage – and, too late, we learn that Frey’s position is in no way secure.

As soon as the plan kicks in, Frey is left to live on her wits in a dangerous bid for survival. She is forced to trust those who seemed determined to kill her. To what extent this will work, nobody is sure.

Following Frey as she pursues this dangerous adventure means everything happens at breakneck speed. Once she returns home, we see the depths to which her father has plunged…and the closing scene/ideas had me gasping. I cannot wait to see how this pans out.

 

‘Wranglestone’ – Darren Charlton

A curious concept. Post-apocalyptic world and we don’t know what happened, but people are scared of those who are different.

Our focus is on a small community who live on a lake. They look out for those they call The Restless Ones, and the only time they truly fear is winter. Winter is when the ice comes, the lake freezes and the zombies can come.

Peter, our main character, has never felt as if he fits in. Interested in sewing and other activities unsuited to this outdoorsy life, Peter harbours a secret crush on his neighbour, Cooper, who is the original outdoor hero. Two seemingly polar opposites, but it’s okay – this love is definitely reciprocated and the story is about how the pair can use their feelings for each other to try and make a difference to their world.

When Peter fails to check ID of someone trying to come ashore, he sets in motion a quite unusual sequence of events. He comes to question everything he has been told since he was little. Nothing is quite as it seems, and the question is to what extent this can change people’s lives.

At its heart this is a romance, but there’s suggestions of a bigger story coming into play. I enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting to, but I did feel the latter part of the story was a little frenetic. We don’t know exactly who certain characters are or how they just happen to turn up at the right time, but there’s certainly more to these scenarios than we’ve been told here.

Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this in exchange for my review.

 

‘The Subjects’ – Sarah Hopkins

 

As we got closer I could see behind the sandstone a curved concrete building: a purpose-built structure. But still no fence, no wire. Not a bar in sight. For this, I’d been told that morning, I should be grateful. This was a ‘lifeline…a last chance’. That is what the judge said.
Daniel is a sixteen-year-old drug dealer and he’s going to jail.
Then, suddenly, he’s not.
A courtroom intervention. A long car ride to a big country house. Other ‘gifted delinquents’: the elusive, devastating Rachel, and Alex, so tightly wound he seems about to shatter.
So where are they? It’s not a school, despite the ‘lessons’ with the headsets and changing images. It’s not a psych unit—not if the absence of medication means anything. It’s not a jail, because Daniel’s free to leave. Or that’s what they tell him.
He knows he and the others are part of an experiment.
But he doesn’t know who’s running it or what they’re trying to prove. And he has no idea what they’re doing to him.

A fascinating concept, but one which left me with far more questions than it answered and which was – ultimately – rather frustrating.

Our story focuses on teenage Daniel. He manages to avoid jail for selling drugs by agreeing to enter a facility. Like Daniel, we learn about the facility and those inside as he experiences it. Ultimately, however, the intriguing idea of exploring social engineering and the behaviour of pharmaceutical companies didn’t fully pay off.

I’m grateful to NetGalley for granting me access to this and it was a fascinating idea. Unfortunately, we never really get the answers we want and the children themselves feel as if information is being withheld. Knowing that Daniel was an adult looking back on this incident meant we had a suspicion how things might go.

 

‘The Toll’ – Neal Shusterman

It’s been three years since Rowan and Citra disappeared; since Scythe Goddard came into power; since the Thunderhead closed itself off to everyone but Grayson Tolliver.
In this pulse-pounding conclusion to New York Times bestselling author Neal Shusterman’s Arc of a Scythe trilogy, constitutions are tested and old friends are brought back from the dead.

That certainly doesn’t tell you much, and having invested so much in the series you can’t help but be determined to find out how it resolves itself. Taken as a whole series, I can’t help but recommend this. Our final chapter slots certain scenarios into place and it fits together perfectly.

I don’t want to give spoilers, but we are set three years after the sinking of Endura. Certain characters have engineered themselves into new situations, while others are taking their time to find people. Everyone is desperate to know what the ultimate plan is, but the Thunderhead will talk only to the Toll, Grayson. A new world, a dead spot, has been created and Goddard goes to new lengths to try and control those around him. Eventually we see the chances for a new beginning, and are left with a very positive image that harks back to earlier times.

While I can see just how good the series is as a whole, I didn’t enjoy the experience of reading this as much as I’d hoped. I always felt a step behind as it wasn’t clear who was doing what, and for what reason. At times it felt longer than it needed to be, but the final section certainly pulled it together.

 

‘The Testaments’ – Margaret Atwood

Maybe I’m one of few people who haven’t watched the recent dramatisation of The Handmaid’s Tale past series one, but it meant I started reading this with no expectations of what may have happened in the years afterwards. I was intrigued to hear that Atwood had placed certain stipulations on those working on the series to ensure that what came in the book was feasible.

The story focuses on the gradual destruction of Gilead and what it represents. How such regimes are destroyed varies, but this time the threat is from within.
The book is told from three different perspectives and I found it really hard initially to tell who was who. Eventually their voices become quite distinct, but their stories merge and are intertwined.

I found the portrayal of Aunt Lydia quite hard to adjust to. This was not the woman seen previously and it made me curious to see how such a change of heart seemed to have come about. The details given suggest this was part of a long-game. It would be nice to think this was part of the initial idea, but it was very difficult to reconcile the two images.

Alongside this we have two younger voices, Agnes and Jade/Nicole. Each has a very different experience of life under this regime, yet both are needed to bring about its destruction. They are inextricably linked, but I found their shifting relationship rather difficult to find credible.

Perhaps some elements of the story were unfeasible. Certainly this book wasn’t perhaps strictly necessary. However, it offers an intriguing insight into some of the reactions to events described earlier.

‘Crossfire’ – Malorie Blackman

I still recall the excitement I felt when I first picked up Noughts and Crosses. Five books in, some familiar faces, and it still had me gripped. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this before publication.

Crossfire focuses on some pretty hard-hitting events while also allowing us to get a little closer to our characters.

We have Callie, now 30, a lawyer preparing to be a judge. She still regrets her behaviour as a teenager when she let jealousy get the better of her. Her feelings for her boyfriend Tobey were complicated, but even more so now. Tobey is about to become the first Nought Prime Minister, but he is accused of murdering a well-known businessman thought to have underground links. He wants Callie to represent him.

Tied into this story are the characters of Libby and Troy. Libby has lived her life surrounded by hatred and contempt. She gets some rather unexpected news, but isn’t prepared for what that brings. Troy is Callie’s much younger brother. His family links also place him in danger. When the two students are kidnapped we can’t help but wonder how much family ties will bind people to a decision.
Set against a background of rising racist behaviour, we get a stark reflection of contemporary society. As always, this series tells some unpalatable truths.

‘Jinxed’ – Amy McCulloch

Lacey Chu is a fantastic engineer. She harbours dreams of working for MONCHA, a leading firm behind the concept of the baku – robotic companions that also act as phones. Unfortunately, it looks like her dream will fall at the first hurdle when she’s not accepted at the special school linked to the company.

With her dreams seemingly in tatters Lacey is not thinking straight when she tries to rescue her best friend’s baku and ends up finding something that many people are looking for. A heap of scrap metal, she thinks, but when she gets back to her workshop Lacey realises it’s a baku like no other.

Over the summer she does her utmost to get it working. In a kind of fantasy fulfilment, things work just fine and suddenly Lacey finds herself heading to the school and getting caught up in stuff she only dreamt of.

While this was set in North America, the whole concept and the battling felt like Pokemon had been brought to life and given personalities. That in itself was great fun, and the dynamics between Lacey and her new-found friends was entertaining. However, not everything is as it seems and there are definitely people suspicious of the skills Lacey and her baku exhibit.

I enjoyed this so much I’ve already pre-ordered Unleashed as I cannot leave this not knowing who on earth is behind what happened at the end. I also wonder whether we’ll learn a little more about the mysterious Mr Chu.
Huge thanks to NetGalley for putting me onto this one.