Book 31: Her Husband's Hands and Other Stories by Adam-Troy Castro

This is a short-story sci-fi collection that covers a range of subjects. Going in I was a little hesitant. The foreword was a little too smug and name-droppy for my taste, and the first story, about a world in which fetuses run the world and life begins at conception and ends at birth, made me a bit apprehensive that the whole book might substitute interesting ideas for controversy-stirring political fables. Happily, this was not the case.

I liked some of the stories over others. "Her Husband's Hands," about a woman whose soldier husband returns home as a pair of hands attached to a back-up memory, had a great deal of emotional resonance, and Castro did a wonderful job of portraying the woman's struggle to adjust to her husband's new life.

"Of a Sweet Slow Dance in the Wake of Temporary Dogs" is quite possible the best story in the collection, about a paradise in which all residents truly love and value life—but at a great cost. 

"Cherub," however, is my personal favorite of the lot. In this story, everyone is born with a demon clinging to them, revealing their bad traits for all to see. Rapists, murders, the lazy, all are marked from birth. And then a child is born with not a demon clinging to him, but a cherub. Although a short story, the world-building was well done and convincing, and I was genuinely surprised by every turn the story took. I was still thinking about the ending for days afterward. B

Book 26: The Here and Now by Ann Brashares

I'm often drawn to time-travel books, but I'm usually disappointed by the execution. It's just too hard to keep a compelling story featuring time travel moving along without leaving gargantuan plot holes in its wake (The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes is a notable exception). The Here and Now, by Ann Brashares of Traveling Pants fame, does a decent job bringing to life a stellar idea, but I felt the book left me a little unfulfilled.

Prenna belongs to a secretive community of refugees who fled the tail-end of the twenty-first century to settle in our present day (the book takes place in 2014, though the group immigrated a little earlier). Although the group ostensibly colonized the past to try to change the horrible future facing Earth (carbon emissions increased, leading to global warming; a horrible blood disease turned epidemic and is spread by mosquito bites; and all progress is nonexistent), their leaders are now more focused on staying hidden and preserving the time line as is. One of the major rules is avoiding intimacy with "time natives," but this rule is beginning to pose a problem for Prenna, who finds herself developing feelings for her classmate Ethan. Ethan, unbeknownst to Prenna, saw her as she first appeared in the present day exiting the time stream and has been intrigued by physics and time travel (and Prenna) ever since.

I had a tough time deciding what age group this book was directed toward. The plot was light on the detail and angst I've come to associate with YA, but the mention of sex, though totally PG and appropriate in context, seemed a little out-of-place for middle grade (but maybe I'm just behind the times here). I always enjoy the teenagers-versus-the-establishment plot variety, and I appreciated that Ethan and Prenna were fighting something more important than just their relationship. Both seemed to place greater priority on the lives jeopardized by the actions of the time travel leaders. However, their little vacation detours, although sweet, did kind of detract from the tension of the story. I suppose they were necessary to build the relationship between Ethan and Prenna into something past insta-love. Both characters were likable, although Prenna seemed a little more hesitant, and I liked Ethan's directness and sense of humor. The Traveler One storyline was excellent, although my mind ran in circles trying to keep the alternate timelines straight. And the ending was tragic.

So, great idea, decent-but-not-stellar execution, and lots to think about. It felt a lot shorter than it actually was, which is usually a good sign, but I found myself craving more detail and substance. I think this would be a fun book to read in a book club just because there's a lot to dissect; I'd love to hear other people's thoughts. B.

Review based on an uncorrected ARC received from NetGalley.

Book 24: Cress by Marissa Meyer (Lunar Chronicles #3)

I really enjoyed the third entry in this series; I thought it was the best one yet. It was still easy to spot the twists from miles away, but that's not such a terrible problem to have. (If you can't surprise your readers, at least let them feel smart, right?) I love how Meyer has now introduced three (and a brief appearance by a fourth, it seems) major female characters, all of whom have distinctly different interests and personalities, and all of whom manage to be strong characters without falling into the "strong female character" caricature (see these comics by Hark a Vagrant's Kate Beaton for some hilarious examples). Because it's YA, all the characters have love interests, and as I said in an earlier review, I don't really buy the foundations of these relationships, but all of the characters can stand alone, and I appreciate that they all (except maybe Wolf) seem to recognize that they have more important things to do than moon over their love life. Excited to read Winter when it comes out! A

Book 23: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (Lunar Chronicles #2)

I was happy to see that this book continued to follow Cinder and Kai even after introducing Scarlet. I don't quite buy the building of the romances in the series (why did Scarlet think Wolf was going along with her to confront the dangerous gang he'd supposedly fled just a few weeks ago?), but they are sweet. I thought this book was slightly weaker than the first, but I like where the series is going. B-

Book 22: Cinder by Marissa Meyer (Lunar Chronicles #1)

I've heard so many good things about this book, and I put off reading it for so long because I thought I'd be disappointed with it, but I was surprised to find I actually really enjoyed this. It shouldn't have been such a surprise; I love fairy tale retellings, and years of loving Sailor Moon pretty much conditioned me to sit up straight and pay attention whenever a missing moon princess is mentioned (even if the identity of said moon princess is inevitably easy to discern). The love story didn't really hook me yet (maybe in the sequels? They just don't seem to know each other well enough, and they both have way bigger things on their minds), but the relationships between Cinder and Peony, Iko, and the doctor were believable enough. I liked the futuristic China setting (especially considering that I'd always heard that the earliest known versions of Cinderella are from China), and I like how Cinder had interests and goals that had nothing to do with the prince and resisted typical, ultra-feminine stereotypes (but I cringed all the way through the ball scene! It made me wish a fairy godmother would make a quick appearance). I look forward to reading the next book in the series! B+

Book 14: Gunnerkrigg Court Vol. 4 by Tom Siddell

Another Gunnerkrigg book! I'm always amazed at stuff I catch when reading these in book form that I missed when I read it online. Everyone ought to at least give this series a try, especially since you can read the whole thing free online. It's so good!

Book 5: Dinosaur Planet by Anne McCaffrey

I have to admit the main reason I picked up this book is because you really can't see this  cover in a used bookstore and just leave it behind:

I have read a bit of Anne McCaffrey before, and old-school sci-fi is always fun to read, living in the future as we do (food synthesizers and analog tapes!) The book took a while to pick up steam, but I did enjoy the discussions of alien life, especially from Varian's excursions with the children. On the  negative side, it seems like all of the really interesting questions go unanswered! Was the crew planted, Why were they on a previously explored world with no information, and why were the dinosaurs on an alien planet???