sergek94's reviews
146 reviews

 

Oh how quickly can things change. One day, you're lying down on your grandmother's lap, listening to one of the hundreds of stories she has up her sleeve, gently playing with your hair while you lose yourself in her tale, the breeze of the desert and the distant howling of the coyotes colouring the experience, and a week after, you're on a space ship, being hurled away from earth as it gets demolished by a comet, destroying almost everyone and everything you held dear to your heart.To survive that trauma, all you have left are your memories, and the stories passed down to you by your ancestors, stories you must fight to keep telling, to make the people with you, the fellow earthlings who are also escaping the destruction, remember who they really are and where they came from. This is the story of Petra Peña, who is one of the lucky chosen ones, alongside her parents and younger brother, to board a space ship that is destined to eventually land on a distant planet called Sagan, to ensure the survival of the human race after Halley's comet hits Earth. Petra and her family were supposed to be put to sleep and wake up hundreds of years later, once the spaceship has safely arrived to Sagan.

However, something goes terribly wrong when Petra finds herself alone when she wakes up from her centuries-long slumber, with the ship having been taken over by a group of rebels who genetically modified themselves to look like hideous shrimp-like creatures, sabotaged the original plan, wiping off the memories of everyone on the ship, and reprogrammed their minds to blindly serve them, an organization they have named as "The Collective", aimed at completely wiping off all trace of past human memories and putting an end to all forms of individualism, culture and all things that give heart and soul to human beings, under the pretense that this will lead to efficient unity, without any wars or conflict. Though this reality might sound ideal, the actual application of it is ruthlessly pragmatic, with the value of each individual measured solely by their "usefulness", and the second someone ceases to be efficient in the ways that The Collective demands, they are instantly killed.Petra was lucky enough to keep her memories due to a malfunction in the system, but she now has to figure out a way to escape this spaceship, while pretending to have her memories erased, taking with her the few "friends" she found who were not as lucky as her and have had their memories lost, but who seem strangely receptive to the stories she tells them, stories passed down to her by her grandmother Lita.

This is a middle-grade SF novel, an interesting choice since I don't really see many SF books being targeted to that age group. The story is filled with suspense throughout, and I was constantly in a state of worry and anticipation, waiting to see how Petra would be able to outsmart the soulless creatures of The Collective, creatures who were once human beings. There is a great deal of sentimentality and a concentration on the importance of identity, and the themes explored in this book are quite mature, delivered in a digestible way to the young target audience. There's a beautiful contrast between the lush past on Earth, with all of its nature, warmth and stories, and the cold, metallic and bleak reality inside the spaceship. The sense of distance from Earth in the depths of space is felt quite strongly, and memories and stories are seen as delicate threads that bind our characters to the bright past, making the bleak present seem tolerable.There is hope however, when Petra and her teammates are sent down to the new planet Sagan to collect samples of wildlife and test whether it's inhabitable for The Collective. This new planet, with a smaller sun that casts a constant orange/purple light on one side of the planet, is lush and teeming with life, and is the perfect opportunity to rebuild the life lost on Earth, and perhaps, do better than those who came before, who, alongside bright cultures and stories, have also brought war and destruction.

I wish we got to spend more time on this planet, but the story was mainly centered around life on the spaceship. I think despite seemingly being a standalone, this book could benefit from having a sequel which focuses on exploring the new planet more.The ending, although nicely written, felt like it left some loose ends that were not explored sufficiently. I wanted to find out more about The Collective, about their leader's past, more in-depth motivations. Some plot conveniences that helped Petra felt forced and not really explained sufficiently, and Petra's eye condition, which blurs her vision and was a source of tension at the very beginning, suddenly stopped being at the second half of the book, which involved a lot exploration and vision use. Despite these little complaints, I did enjoy this story and it does a nice job making SF be accessible to a younger audience. The last chapter in the book was very exciting to get through, and left me craving a sequel.


 “Suma's eyes are still closed, and I can't tell if she's trying to forget, or to remember. Maybe stories are there to help us do both. I know stories can't always have happy endings. But if there are chances for us to do better, we have to say out loud the parts that hurt the most.”

 

 “After the war, I learned a lesson I would never forget: how a person can disappear inside themselves, and that, sometimes, like my father, they are never able to find their way back.”

Songbirds by Christy Lefteri is a heartbreaking tale exploring the struggles domestic workers have to go through just to provide their families with the basic necessities of life. Reading this book has clearly shown me the stark divide between people who are overflowing with privilege without even being aware of it, just like how a fish doesn't know it's submerged in overflowing ocean water, and people who have to sacrifice their entire youth just to provide their families with things that are default aspects of many people's lives that require little to no sacrifices. Another contrast we see highlighted in this book is the one between disgusting cruelty and selfless kindness, two attitudes human beings are equally capable of, but lean on one more than the other due to their own upbringing.

The story here is centered around Nisha, a Sri Lankan maid who has left her baby daughter Kumari behind after the tragic death of her husband, to go work as a house maid for a woman called Petra in Cyprus, who has coincidentally also lost her husband and has to take care of her own daughter while working. During her stay in Cyprus, Nisha forms a close bond with Petra's daughter, and becomes an inseparable part of the family. She simultaneously builds up a romantic relationship with a Cypriot man named Yiannis, who is involved in an illegal bird hunting project with his childhood close friend, and depends on this arrangement to financially survive. The lives of Petra and Yiannis intertwine when one day, Nisha disappears mysteriously without a trace.

 “Yes, I love thinking about beginnings. I don’t like endings, though I suppose I’m like most people in that. An ending can be staring you right in the face without you knowing it.”

This book alternates between the point of views of Petra and Yiannis, each giving the reader their own subjective experience of Nisha. Through Petra, we see Nisha as the mysterious, exotic maid who takes care of her daughter and deals with tedious household tasks.Through Yiannis, we see Nisha as a passionate and loving woman in her own right, the woman Yiannis so desperately wants to be with.But who is Nisha, really? This question is perhaps the most heartbreaking aspect of this tale, and shows how domestic workers coming from foreign countries are dehumanized as a default.For some, they are servants, for others, they're exotic and mysterious lovers, but we tend to ignore the fact that these women are human beings, with their own souls, their own history and their own ocean of emotions.While trying to figure out what happened to Nisha, we slowly piece together puzzle pieces of her soul, as a human being equal to those who claim to be her masters.


 “You see, we have to eat, and we have to survive, and yet we must protect our dignity and our identity. There are things we do to achieve those things. But we can respect the land and the animals that are on it. Always be kind to the land, the people, and the animals that are on it. Remember that. It’s the most important rule in the world.”

This book is slow and atmospheric, gently pulling the reader into the pleasant nature of Cyprus, sprinkled with birdsong.There is some very good imagery and parallels between the birds and other animals in this story and the struggles of the housemaids the book is portraying. Despite being centered around a disappearance mystery, I find that the book draws its strength not from the clues and the actual revelation of what happened, which I found to be relatively lackluster/mediocre, but by the tidbits we discover about Nisha, and the transition the author makes from painting Nisha as a one-dimensional foreign housemaid to a complex, passionate human being in her own right. This hits home, since this hideous practice foreign housemaids are subjected to is a norm in the country I'm from, Lebanon, which is coincidentally quite close to Cyprus and is mentioned in this book. These maids are treated as subhumans here, with their passports being taken away by their employers, and in most disputes, they are the ones in the wrong, despite being subjected to all sorts of abuse, from physical beatings to sexual assault. We see this same condescending behaviour towards these maids in this book, where the police discard the disappearance of Nisha, and other maids, since they're foreign workers and are not worth their time.

As I mentioned, the mystery and the revelation isn't really the strong suit of this book, and the pace might feel a bit slow, but the strength of this book is how it helps us peer into the souls of these unfortunate domestic workers. While reading this book and uncovering the story of Nisha's life, my heart was touched by the suffering of these housemaids, and the great injustices they are subjected to. This is a heavy read delivered in a gentle manner. Despite the pretty prose and the pleasant island atmosphere of the setting, the topics covered here can weigh heavy on the heart. The emotional impact this book had on me made up for the relative weakness of the mystery plot and its resolution, so I am giving this a 4 stars, and it is a work I will remember, and I definitely do recommend.

Thank you to Maria and Sulla for buddy reading this with me!



 “Now that I could hear this woman’s song—a melody that told a story I couldn’t understand—I hoped with all of my heart that it wasn’t too late.” 

 

An essential aspect of being alive that unites each and every one of us is the desire to survive. The instinct of survival is one we share with most other animals, and when push comes to shove, we are willing to do the impossible to escape the cold grip of death. This is a novel that is a perfect representation of this will to stay alive.

Mark Watney has been stranded on Mars, after his crew mates wrongly assumed he was dead after a violent sandstorm and abandoned him there as they made their escape from the tumultuous planet. We follow Mark's journey by reading his daily logs, while simultaneously checking in with the people on earth and their attempts to reach Mark before he starves to death, or is killed by the violent nature of the planet.

This book received very high ratings and is objectively a success, and the movie with its 8/10 IMDB rating is also one of the leading modern SF movies out there. I don't deny that this book did a lot of things right, but I do have mixed feelings about it.

Starting with what I believe the book did right, is the immersive nature of the read. We actually do feel like we're reading true travel logs, and the minute details Andy Weir covers makes the harsh realities experienced by our unfortunate protagonist on the planet feel very real. I actually forgot how "fictitious" this work is, since it didn't feel that far-fetched, despite the fact that no humans have yet landed on Mars.The science behind this story is quite solid, and Andy Weir is clearly an intelligent person, expertly weaving in the science in the story to make it a precious gem for the fans of the genre. This book is also such an inspiration to all of us who feel like we're struggling to survive our day to day problems. Mark is placed in horrendous situations, but his ability to make light of dark situations, and his tenacity and intelligence and the way he uses his intellect to slip through fatal corners can inspire the reader to use that same determination to fight through their own struggles.

But why didn't I enjoy this story more? I think the strengths of this book just didn't work for me on a personal level. I'm personally not a fan of the overly-casual American writing style that is employed in this book, which is a completely subjective preference and even makes me not vibe with other modern literary giants like Stephen King.Apart from that, all the details that were supposed to make this book immersive and realistic ended up boring me. I wanted something more, but ended up reading pages about how Mark grows potatoes, how he keeps the soil fertile with bacteria, how he expertly employs his feces, reminding us of the unpleasant odor several times, to aid in his farming attempts. I do enjoy "hard detail" that can make SF feel authentic, but I was desperately craving for more atmospheric work, some more character depth, and a bit more soul in this work. It almost felt like this book was adapted from a movie, and not vice-versa. I also found the plot to be quite predictably formulaic, without any surprises, and even if I hadn't watched the movie, I could have easily predicted how things would unfold.This is Andy Weir's first book, and despite his expertise in the science, it felt like he needed to hone his plotting skills a bit more.I don't know if I should say the same about the writing, since this overly Americanized writing style is employed by many other authors, which is quite fair, since the author is American, but as I said, that tends to lower my enjoyment of most books.

I'm sure my opinion is quite an unpopular one, and I don't think this book is bad, but it just wasn't for me and I found it to be quite overrated. Despite that, I do encourage people to read this, because it will most likely scratch the SF itch many potential readers would be craving going into this.


“If a hiker gets lost in the mountains, people will coordinate a search. If a train crashes, people will line up to give blood. If an earthquake levels a city, people all over the world will send emergency supplies. This is so fundamentally human that it's found in every culture without exception. Yes, there are assholes who just don't care, but they're massively outnumbered by the people who do.” 

 

"A full moon hung halfway up the sky. Crossing the schoolyard, he stepped over the fence into Seabert's pasture and walked on, with his hands in his pockets, into the grove of trees, and through them up the long slope of the hill, till he came out on top among the tombstones. They stood white and peaceful in the moonlight.
'Good evening,' he said aloud, as to old friends, and moving among the familiar furniture of the dead, he began to feel calmer. Up here the things that troubled him seemed to matter not at all. He sat down, behind a headstone, facing the moon. Looking out into space, where man had found other moons and planets but had not yet plotted heaven, he began once more to contemplate the puzzle of himself.

If I were to classify this book under one category,  it would be a cozy summer read, out on the porch during a warm August night, with the moon shining high above the trees and fireflies flying about. Jetta Carleton, what a marvelous writer you were! It is quite a shame that this is her only published novel, because this woman had talent! This is a family saga, exploring the intricacies of a family who live on a farm in western Missouri in the 20th century.  It's humorous, heartwarming, heartbreaking and complex all at the same time. We start this book with a family reunion, where the daughters of Matthew and Callie visit their aging parents once a year for two weeks. During those two weeks, they forget their individual lives, their individual troubles and worries, the burdens adulthood has irrevocably placed on them, and they lose themselves in that cozy farm life, just like the good old days.After that, we read through a series of flashbacks, exploring each member of this family and we eventually discover that not all is as it seems, and everyone is hiding their own secrets.

The characterization here is superb, each character being as nuanced as possible. There are no good or bad characters, but just like ordinary life, they are layered in different shades of each, and due to this nuance, they are even more likeable and relatable. The writing is hilarious in some parts, and quite heartwarming in others, and beautiful throughout. Magnificent prose that flows like a lovely musical symphony, which is one of my favourite aspects in literature.I love reading things that sound nice,  and this book delivers that in spades.


 “She went outside and down the path, pausing by the smokehouse to county the moon flower pods. Another day or two and they would be ready to bloom. The flowers were so lovely, they lasted so short a time. It was almost like the children's visit, something you looked forward to all year, then it came, and you enjoyed it so much, and then it was over, in no time. Maybe that's the way it should be...”

With excellent characterization and lovely prose, I highly encourage fans of classic family sagas to give this book a try. This should definitely be adapted to a movie or a short series, since I would love to see these characters and the beautiful farm onscreen. Nothing but heartwarming and positive feelings towards this book, my main criticism would be the overly drawn-out conversations which bored me, but that's just a matter of personal preference. This is a character driven story, and the beauty of it is spending time in that farm, through the eyes of each family member.


 Maybe that was the way it went, that all your life you heard the singing and never got any closer. There were things you wanted all your life, and after a while and all of a sudden, you weren’t any closer than you ever were and there was no time left.

 

This was the pick of The Fantasy Guild Book Club for the month of March 2022.



 “Power does things to a man’s mind. It unlocks his baser instincts which the process of civilization has before occluded. Powerful men are closer in mind to wild beasts than they are to their supposed human inferiors.”—SIR WILLIAM THE HONEST

 What a great debut!

We are in the bleak depths of winter, with no breath of spring in sight, instead, the air is frozen in a seemingly eternal ice age, but there are cracks forming on the surface of the frosted lake that is the Empire of the Wolf. The vast domain of this superpower is governed by strict laws, enforced by the unyielding iron gloved "Justices" who travel the lands and make sure the Emperor's laws are not trampled upon. These Justices have received vigorous training in the intricacies of law, and one might argue that despite their desire for goodness, they are quite removed from their humanity and have perhaps lost their souls within the endless sea of laws and doctrines,but doubtlessly, they are enforcers of absolute fairness and bring order to the chaos, or they at least were until recently. The iron fist of justice has been losing its previously unfaltering grip, and with little deviations here and there, the foundations of long years of peace are threatened to collapse into endless pits of chaos and lawlessness.

Our story follows one of these Justices, a man named Sir Konrad Vonvalt, as he investigates the brutal murder of a noblewoman, wife of a well known aristocrat. After having started this investigation, Vonvalt begins to realize that it is not a simple murder, triggered by a possible robbery or some other form of assault, but that it is simply the tip of a very large iceberg of corruption and blackmail.While Vonvalt and his team are working on uncovering the truths behind this mystery, strange events begin to unfold around them, as Vonvalt realizes that his powerful sway on the nobles which has kept them in line for decades is beginning to falter. Vonvalt is an idealist, unyielding in his convictions and his belief in the power of good. As a character, he is authoritative and commands respect simply by his presence alone, however, he not only emits power, but also an aura of protectiveness, within which one feels secure and in the hands of the protective arms of the state, an entity that has existed longer than the individuals presently alive. Reading about this character, who is simultaneously kind yet ruthless in the application of the law with cold and hard and unyielding logic, was quite an enjoyable roller-coaster.

 “Justice is not vengeance, and vengeance is not justice. But the two often overlap. The state is as capable of vengeance as any individual, for what is the state if not the people that comprise us?”—SIR RANDALL KORMONDOLT

However, Vonvalt is not the main point of view we follow in this book. Instead, we follow his 19 year-old clerk, who has been saved by a lifetime of probable misery and poverty by Vonvalt. This clerk admires Vonvalt, ,i>but is also occasionally appalled by his calculated exertions of ruthlessness to further the word of law. The writing style here reminded me of The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb, which is one of my favourite fantasy trilogies of all-time. Like in that trilogy, this book is narrated in the first person by Vonvalt's clerk, who is writing this story as an elder, recounting their memories with Vonvalt. The writing style was exquisite, and Richard Swan truly has a talent with words, seamlessly immersing the reader into the cold wintry atmosphere of the world, and having the blandest conversations seem fascinating due to the choice of his words which are woven together beautifully.

Another similarity to Robin Hobb is the author's ability to create extremely detestable characters who we cannot root for. The villains in this story have the potential of having the reader's blood boil just by their presence alone.The themes explored are profound, especially the shattering of idealism. The world here is a cruel one, and once the firm foundations of the word of law begin to crumble, we get to experience just how cruel humanity can be. We see the dark side of society, and how easily it can devolve into anarchy, and break the spirit of even the most headstrong and idealistic person. This is a story where even the most benevolent heroes can turn into ruthless villains, becoming the monsters they were so resolutely intent on fighting.

 “It is impossible to impress upon a man the severity of a situation until the point of its remedy is long past. ‘Tis something to do with the nature of a human being, that ingrained idiocy. The gods must shake their heads at us in disbelief.”—JUSTICE SOPHIA JURAS

 This is a must read for fantasy lovers, and if you're a fan of grimdark and dark fantasy, this book will very likely scratch that itch for you. Magic is definitely present here, but not the main focal point. The two types of magic we see used are the ability to compel someone to speak the truth through the "The Emperor's Voice", and the very dark practice of necromancy, specifically the ability to reanimate the corpses of the dead in order to speak with them.

I highly recommend this book, and as a debut novel, it is extremely impressive! My little complaints would be the sometimes never-ending dialogues that seem to drag for a bit too long, and the relatively slow first quarter of the book, which had gotten me to believe that I would be giving it a 3 star rating. Additionally, there is an insta-love dynamic that felt very shallow and out of place in this otherwise mature universe Richard Swan has built. If you are a fantasy lover, please give this book a try, it is a gem and the beginning of a potentially great fantasy series. I can't wait to get my hands on the second book as soon as it is released!

 Note that this book has its fair share of graphic violence and gore, so be forewarned if it is something you wish to avoid for this reason.
 


 "I felt another presence in the room. I felt it with absolute conviction. My skin broke out in gooseflesh. The candles guttered and faded. I hoped to all the gods I could think of that they would not go out. They remained lit, but the light they provided was different, somehow. It was as though the light itself was black." 

 Actual Rating: 3.5/5


Time often catches us off guard. One day, we're 8 year old little humans brimming with naive joy and excitement, and suddenly, we're fully grown adults swimming in an ocean of anxiety regarding the next bill we're overdue on paying, and our manager testing every impulse we have to not just throw all our financial stability away in an attempt to salvage our dignity. In a blink of an eye, even those days are long gone, and we're sitting in our beds, retired, old and frail, worrying about the next way our aging bodies will betray us.That's what time does, it spares no one, and it not only operates on such a micro level, but it impacts societies, nations and civilizations. What was once medieval Europe dominated by the Roman Empire on one side and barbarian tribes on the other, quickly turned into one of the modern economic centers of the world, containing several nuclear powers and the Eiffel Tower and The Big Ben and Disneyland. Humans went from riding horse carriages to getting monthly subway subscriptions, and intimate diaries hidden in battered houses were replaced with WordPress accounts. You might argue that this took centuries to happen, but what are a few centuries in the grand scheme of 200,000 years, which is the earliest known date of the existence of anatomically modern human beings. What are 200,000 years in fact, in the billions of years this planet has existed for?As far as we're concerned, humanity is just an insignificant blip in this vast ever-evolving timeline. A toxic blip, that's for sure, but a blip nonetheless.

 “The greatest scientific discovery was the discovery of ignorance. Once humans realised how little they knew about the world, they suddenly had a very good reason to seek new knowledge, which opened up the scientific road to progress.”

The previous book by Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind explored our past and what led us here. This book looks into the future, at the probable possibilities that await our race, if we continue on this path we're on, which we most likely will. Yuval Noah Harari touches and expands on many concepts he briefly did mention in the previous book, especially the growing importance of technology in our lives, and the inevitable turning point where most humans will likely become obsolete and irrelevant compared to the highly intelligent AI that is slowly digging its roots into most aspects of our society. This book delves into the realm of speculation, and one must keep an open mind to fully absorb what Harari is trying to say, but his logical trail of thought and the way he grounds the reader into what is already known, and slowly branches from that familiar space into the territories of what could be, is quite convincing, and he makes previously unimaginable concepts seem quite realistic. For example, it might sound quite far-fetched to think that one day, we humans will become mindless slaves to AI, blindly following their instructions because there will come a point where they understand our deepest desires better than we do.

 “No clear line separates healing from upgrading. Medicine almost always begins by saving people from falling below the norm, but the same tools and know-how can then be used to surpass the norm.”

 However, a brief survey of the present, and the way we delegate most of our tasks to computer programs like Siri and Cortana, asking them to remind us of our next doctor's appointment, and find book suggestions or restaurant suggestions based on our history, shows us that we are already on our way towards that path, and that the more intelligent computers get, the more we will rely on their input. Harari even posits the theory that an AI that has been gathering all of our information from childhood, including what makes us happy and what makes our blood pressure rise from moment to moment, can be very well suited to compare our behaviour around one potential love match with another, and give us an informed advice, not biased by our momentary hormonal reactions, but on objective data, regarding who we should choose as a partner.Such AI can even help us decide what party we want to vote for during the upcoming elections, since it is very easy for us to forget the frustrations we experienced under one president's tenure when he purposely spends the last year of his candidacy adopting favourable policies and engaging in expert marketing to flood us with dopamine make us forget the initial misery we suffered during the majority of his time on that seat, in order to gain our vote, while the AI won't ever forget a thing. These are interesting concepts he covers, and he even challenges the notion of a sense of self, showing us how biology actually refutes that claim, and shows us that we don't really have a core self but fleeting tidal waves of chemical reactions that influence our behaviour. He uses real life examples of how drastically one's behaviour can be altered just by electrically triggering certain parts of the brain.


 “Every day millions of people decide to grant their smartphone a bit more control over their lives or try a new and more effective antidepressant drug. In pursuit of health, happiness and power, humans will gradually change first one of their features and then another, and another, until they will no longer be human.”

Despite these very interesting ideas, Yuval Noah Harari spends most of this book simply rephrasing and repeating concepts from his previous one, which I did enjoy, but I was hoping to spend more time pondering the future in more depth, as opposed to having 2 sections exploring the past and the present (which were done more than enough in the last book) and having just one section exploring these ideas. I would have wished for him to go into more detail, perhaps exploring different routes certain societies can take, knowing our sociological ecology is a diverse one. I did find a lot of repetition, and a lot of abstract examples being given to illustrate the same ideas over and over again, and this slightly diminished my enjoyment of this book. That's why I prefer the previous book over this one, though I still recommend reading this, since the ideas explored are quite eye-opening.


“The glass ceiling of happiness is held in place by two stout pillars, one psychological, the other biological. On the psychological level, happiness depends on expectations rather than objective conditions. We don’t become satisfied by leading a peaceful and prosperous existence. Rather, we become satisfied when reality matches our expectations. The bad news is that as conditions improve, expectations balloon. Dramatic improvements in conditions, as humankind has experienced in recent decades, translate into greater expectations rather than greater contentment. If we don’t do something about this, our future achievements too might leave us as dissatisfied as ever."