The Extinction of Irena Rey is a layer cake of fascinating and thought-provoking elements, all of them strong enough to hold a story on their own but working together deliciously.
Tag Archives: Would read again
‘Liberty’s Daughter’ Balances Play with a Dark Underbelly
Liberty’s Daughter is a story about finding your way in the world—an easy message to relate to, even for those of us living on dry land.
Friendship at Heart of ‘Tree. Table. Book.’
The moment of the younger Sophie’s realization is a hard one, and the elder Sophie has her own hard moments at present, and in the near future. Yet what does remain simple is the beauty of their unconventional friendship, and how common ground can erase years and miles and practically an entire life between them.
‘Beauty’ a Balance Between Ordinary and Sublime
This is a book of stillness, and a book of contemplation. It’s a book about appreciation, and of change. Life, broadly, is all of those things, and All the Beauty in the World shows the value in recognizing that a little more.
‘Scorpionfish’ a Hazy, Pensive Read
Languid and pensive, Scorpionfish is a story as melancholy as it is dreamy.
‘Ocean’ a Sea of Possibilities in Space Opera
Ocean’s Godori is pitched as Becky Chambers meets Firefly. I suppose the description fits—a strong found family, political intrigue in space, a scrappy crew upon a scrappy vessel. But Cho has crafted something far more special than a simple mashup.
‘What the Dead Know’ a Pensive Look Back at Life and Death
What the Dead Know is about a lot of difficult stuff, and Butcher doesn’t shield us from the gore. But she does wisely keep it tastefully select in its details, delivering realness without exploitation.
Wishes get Colonized and Corporatized in Shubeik Lubeik
The repercussions from wishes are negligible for the haves and devastating for the have-nots. Following the rules is detrimental for some, and far outside the sphere of concern for others. As with many things designed to “make life better”—technology, say, or medicine—the artificial scaffolding around wishes exacerbate, rather than reduce, inequality in the society they occupy.
‘Fire’ a Rich Historical Tragedy with a Glimmer of Hope
The four point-of-view characters do all give us a different view of the disaster. It’s a testament to Beanland’s writing and research that the characters all feel so human, and the world around them so real.
‘Butcher’ a Fairy Tale of Trauma
The trauma at the heart of The Butcher is something wound as tightly around every detail as tightly as ivy on a tree. There’s a difference between surviving something and coming back whole, Veris notes early in the book, and it becomes increasingly clear that she’s the one who hasn’t been the same since.
Ring Reads 