Tag: dystopian
Review: The Breeding Tree by J. Andersen
Author Andersen has just released the third book in this series, and when she asked me to read it, I asked if I could start with the first instead. This was an interesting, well-written YA dystopian novel. It builds on concepts you’ve already seen…
Review of Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich
This was a fascinating book, and one I recommend it if you’re looking for something like The Handmaid’s Tale (appropriate on this Women’s March weekend). Erdrich’s book is set in the near future, where instead of environmental catastrophe, mankind is facing a different threat:…
1984 by George Orwell
1984 has to be one of the most disturbing books I’ve read, between the creepy parallels with our current political situation, and the torture and brainwashing. Animal Farm has always been one of my favorite books, for its basic but powerful allegory about political corruption. …
All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai
I found this to be a thoughtful and entertaining take on the time travel story. Time travel stories have plenty of tropes, and it seems like most of it’s been done before. Mastai’s debut novel takes those tropes, mashes them together, and comes out…
The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood
I liked this novel by Margaret Atwood, although I don’t think it’s one of her best. I had a hard time buying into the concept of the story, and she lost me a little when the story turned in a direction I wasn’t expecting. …
Series on Sunday: Mini-reviews of series books
Trying something new this month! I rarely review series books, unless it’s the first in a series. So I thought I’d do a set of mini-reviews instead. (Note: minor spoilers ahead since two of these reviews are for the second book in the series.)…
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
I can see why this book shows up on so many best-of-2014 book lists. What I liked most about it is that it’s a post-apocalypse story about people that seem very real. I love The Stand, but I’m always more interested in the regrouping…
Wool by Hugh Howey
No doubt you’ve already heard about Wool. I’d read a lot of good reviews and my husband highly recommended it – and still it exceeded my expectations. Wool is hard to put down. It starts out with this really eerie description of a future…
MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood
I’m struggling with how to review this one. I’m torn between my love/worship of Margaret Atwood, my admiration for the world she’s created in this trilogy, and my “meh” reaction to this book. Atwood has created a future world that is so detailed, down…
Review of The Drowned Cities by Paulo Bacigalupi
I’ve become a big fan of Paulo Bacigalupi after reading his short stories and his first YA novel, Ship Breakers. Bacigalupi is not only a great writer and world-builder, but like all good science fiction or dystopian fiction, he makes really compelling statements about…
