Month: September 2025

Book Review: Forward As Always

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Forward As Always
by Olan Rogers & Jake Sidwell

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Sci-fi

After surviving a malicious fire as a child, Gaius feels compelled to investigate other such fires, even though he’s training as a messenger, not a fighter. Now the fires are occurring more often, and it’s clear that the people behind them are building toward something. What that something might be, though, no one knows.

I really wanted to like this book, and it wasn’t bad overall. But for the most part, I felt like it didn’t live up to its potential. I enjoyed a lot about the setting, in particular the Tempest, deadly storms that come every 3-5 days. It adds a lot of urgency to even the slower parts of the plot, and the way it is incorporated into the plot and the lives of the characters is well done. Overall, a lot of creativity went into this world, even if I was confused by what was going on for a lot of the time. 

Much of the book involves Gaius trying to track down the man that set fire to his home when he was a child, while learning that he’s been kept in the dark about a lot of things, and when he goes on what he hopes is a mission to confront that man, the plot suddenly turns into a zombie story. I was thrown for a loop, even more so because I had no idea how these “zombies” really worked. I felt like I was missing some kind of backstory, and in the end, I don’t think it was ever explained much more than what little is said at the time the plot takes this turn. Then at the end of the book, there’s a large amount of explanation and answers given about the state of the world, but it still didn’t answer all of my questions.

I do not know if my lack of much previous experience with sci-fi of this type meant I was the wrong audience for it, but I do at least feel that the pacing could have been better. And maybe information I wished to have just wasn’t intended to be had by the reader, and that’s certainly the prerogative of the authors. I didn’t dislike the book; it was just a little slow in pacing, and I didn’t feel very satisfied by the ending. But I think that other sci-fi fans that are interested would probably like it more than me, and I would still be interested in reading future books by these authors.

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Book Review: Beyond the Far Horizon

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Beyond the Far Horizon
The Restorationists #3
by Carolyn Leiloglou

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Christian middle grade fantasy

Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, starting with Beneath the Swirling Sky.

Ravi may have chosen to side with the Restorationists, but that doesn’t mean he trusts them. All his life, he’s been used and had to look out for himself. So though he’s agreed to help Vincent, Georgia, and Ms. Arte take down the Distortionists, he has a secret escape plan in case things go bad. But the longer he works with them, the more he realizes that he might not want to be on his own anymore.

I am so sad to think about this being the last book in this wonderful, inventive world in which people can enter paintings and travel between them, interacting with the painted people, creatures, and other aspects within, and making changes that aren’t visible but affect the painting’s viewer, for good or for ill. Though I’m not much of an art lover, the author is clearly passionate about paintings, and I really enjoy the inclusion of different paintings and especially the various components within the paintings.

Each of these books spotlights a different teenager with the ability to Travel through paintings, and each one deals with some sort of baggage throughout the story. Vincent’s resulted in a moment that I will never forget. Georgia’s kind of paled in comparison. I felt this book brought back a lot of the sympathy and enjoyment I felt in the first book. I felt for Ravi so much, I just wanted to hug him through most of the story. 

The plot is exciting, and the ending is a satisfying conclusion to the 3-book arc. I didn’t like this book quite as much as the first, but it was still a 5-star read I recommend this book (and series—and really, you should start at the beginning if you’re interested) to anyone, young or old, interested in fantasy fiction with a Christian worldview.

Thank you to Netgalley and WaterBrook & Multnomah for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: Appointment with Death

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Appointment with Death
Hercule Poirot #19
by Agatha Christie
read by Hugh Fraser

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Classic mystery

This was not my favorite Poirot, and I’m not sure I can pinpoint the reasons. It reminded me of some of the earlier books in the series that I didn’t like, in that it felt a little bloated. We’re given a ready-made cast of suspects, which of course made me look more carefully at everyone outside of that group. I’m not sure we’re given enough clues to figure it out for ourselves (though I suppose I can see some hints toward it when looking back). But then we’re sort of jerked around, all the way up through the reveal, with Poirot talking to someone as if they had done it, and then clarifying that it wasn’t them. I remember that happening in past books as well, and I couldn’t tell you who the murderer actually is in those books, because by the time they were revealed, I was a bit weary from explanation. The same thing happened here, and though I can remember the culprit right now, I’ve already had to remind myself that it wasn’t one of the fake-outs on the way to the real one. And yeah, just like one of the characters in this book pointed out, I don’t particularly appreciate Poirot’s hypocrisy in letting the culprit(s) go free in a previous book but insisting on justice in this case. Not that I think he should have let it go here, but that never really felt great about him doing so in the previous instance. I’m also not a fan of the “there’s not enough evidence to convict, so I’ll just get the murderer to kill him/herself” that happens too often in this series. Anyway, all of that combined to keep me from enjoying this book as much as I did previous ones. Though Hugh Fraser’s narration is still great.

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Book Review: Howl’s Moving Castle

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Howl’s Moving Castle
Book #1
by Diana Wynne Jones
read by Jenny Sterlin

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Middle grade fantasy

When Sophie attracts the unwanted attention of a powerful witch and is turned into an old woman, she seeks refuge in the moving castle out in the hills, said to belong to the wizard Howl who eats young women’s souls. Sophie’s not afraid of Howl anymore, because she’s not a young woman anymore. There, she meets an odd cast of characters, including one that claims it can return her to her rightful age.

I did not really know what to expect with this book. I can’t even remember for sure why I decided to read it (I have not seen the movie). I think I saw someone mention that the audiobook is really well done, and I’ve at least heard of the movie, so maybe that’s what did it. Whatever the reason, I found the story whimsical and charming, if a bit meandering and odd. I struggled to follow some of it, especially early on, and especially as it related to Sophie’s sisters and the various peripheral characters that had disappeared for one reason or another. That aspect might have been better if I had been reading, rather than listening. And the derogatory way some people would speak to or about Sophie, just because she’s an old woman (so they think) bothered me, especially when some reveals were made later. I also found myself expecting more of an explanation for a particular portal-fantasy-type aspect that comes up later in the book, but none was given. In fact, I wanted more explanations about multiple plot points than I got.

But even though the previous paragraph might make it seem like I didn’t enjoy the book, I really did. For the sheer pleasure I had while listening, I would have liked to give the book 5 stars, but the above paragraph does compel me to lower it to 4. The characters have depth, and I found myself rooting for all of them, even those that aren’t the most heroic (though certainly not the antagonists). And I think therein lies the major draw for me—I’m a character reader, and I loved these characters, so much so that I was really sad to leave this world when the book ended. Jenny Sterlin, the narrator, also had a lot to do with me becoming completely immersed in the world of this story. She makes the different major characters sound just different enough to help their different personalities come through. She’s the kind of narrator that makes me want to go and find other books she’s narrated, even if they’re books I’d never planned to read or even heard of before.

I can’t tell you whether or not you’d like this book if you’ve seen and liked the movie, but for someone who hasn’t seen the movie, if you’re interested in fantasy in a old-England-type setting, I would recommend this book, whether you’re in the age range it’s meant for (young teen and up, maybe?) or not.

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Book Review: Mandie and the Secret Tunnel

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Mandie and the Secret Tunnel
Book #1
by Lois Gladys Leppard

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Children’s Christian historical fiction

For complete transparency, I’ll say up front that I read a lot of this series when I was a kid/pre-teen, and I read some of them to my now-teen daughter when she was younger. Nostalgia will hugely affect my reviews for this series, and I have no plans to try to be objective.

Written in the 80s and set in 1900, the book begins with the death of 12-year-old Mandie’s father. Her mother clearly has no love for her and sends her away to work for an equally unkind family that needs help taking care of a baby. But through Uncle Ned, an old friend of her father’s and a Cherokee, Mandie learns of her father’s brother, who she’d never known existed, and with Uncle Ned’s help sets out to find a better life with her uncle (her real uncle, because “Uncle” Ned isn’t really her uncle).

This introduction to Mandie and her heritage is charming. There’s a mystery involving the will of a relative of Mandie’s, and it’s not exactly a deep mystery, but for the age group, I think it’s intriguing enough. Uncle Ned is a comforting presence for both Mandie and me, to be honest, as I seem to recall a feeling that when he’s involved, everything is going to be okay. I’m not a huge fan of Polly, a new friend of Mandie’s in this book, but overall, this is the kind of book where the good people are really good and the bad people are quite (sometimes over-the-top) bad. Not that they’re all villains, but their personalities are pretty sour.

I can’t pretend that this book holds up really well for me as an adult—Mandie’s friend Joe is domineering, and it’s super awkward when Joe and Polly meet and are attracted to each other (these kids are all 12-14, don’t forget). The Christianity presented in this book is shallow at best, maybe even somewhat works-based, which I couldn’t possibly have realized was incorrect as a kid. The preacher who talks at her dad’s funeral and visits her later only scares Mandie, rather than helping her through her difficult time. It’s unfortunate that Mandie doesn’t believe God cares about her until things end up working out well in the end, which is not a great message for kids.

My daughter read the entire series (which is more than I’ve read, but I plan to rectify that) when she was around 10 years old and loved them. Even now, at 15, she remembers them fondly and is planning to re-read them again some time soon. If that isn’t an endorsement, I don’t know what is.

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Book Review: Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer

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Kid Lawyer
Theodore Boone #1
by John Grisham
read by Richard Thomas


My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Middle grade fiction

Thirteen-year-old Theodore Boone’s parents are both lawyers, which gives him unique insight into the law system in his small town. He spends a lot of time at the courthouse and dreams of being a great trial lawyer someday. When his small town is rocked by a murder, he hates that he has to miss the trial to attend school. Then a classmate brings him some unknown evidence about the murder case, and Theo isn’t sure what to do with the info.

For the most part, this book was absolutely great and I really enjoyed it, though there are some things that I feel could have been done better. I really liked the trial side of the story. It reminded me a lot of David Rosenfelt’s Andy Carpenter series, which I also enjoy. I also liked Theo as a character and the relationship he’s built with various people at the courthouse. And there were a few moments that made me chuckle, especially early in the book. I was listening to the audiobook, and my 15-year-old daughter was nearby when I first started it, and she heard enough at the beginning (including those humorous moments) to decide to add it to her TBR as well. Another thing I appreciated is that Theo realizes the point when he’s in over his head and needs to consider taking what he knows to an adult. The way that all played out, too, I thought was pretty good.

I wish the story had gone a different direction than it did, though. I kept expecting even just a small twist in the plot by the end, but it never happened—maybe in an attempt to be more realistic than thrilling. And it certainly did seem realistic, but maybe throwing in a little more excitement would be good too. I also noted that the narrator (Theo) basically says near the beginning of the book that he doesn’t think of girls romantically at his age, yet he certainly is attracted to one of the women who works at the courthouse, and then there’s the girl in school that he thinks could become his girlfriend…so I guess all he really means is that he doesn’t think of that one girl at the beginning of the book romantically. Either way, it seemed like an unnecessary overall addition to a book with a 13-year-old protagonist.

I happened on this book when I was looking for something quick to listen to while waiting for some holds to come through, and the synopsis sounded interesting. If I had taken the time to read reviews first and see the 3.8 average rating right now on Goodreads, I probably would have passed, but I’m really glad I just dove in, because overall, I really enjoyed it and plan to keep going with the series. Richard Thomas does a great job with the narration, too. Overall, I’d say whether or not a teenager will be interested in this book will depend on what kind of fiction they like—if fast-paced action is important, this probably won’t suit them. If they’re interested in realistic fiction about crime and law and trials, this could be fascinating for them.

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Book Review: How to Train Your Dragon

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How to Train Your Dragon
Book #1
by Cressida Cowell
read by David Tennant

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Middle grade fantasy

Though he’s the son of the clan’s chief, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III leaves a lot to be desired as a Viking. When he and the other boys his age are tasked with capturing a young dragon to raise and train, he’s just hoping he doesn’t screw up by not getting any dragon at all.

I’ve actually struggled a lot as I’ve tried to write this review. It’s often difficult to base a book on its own merits if I read a book after watching and enjoying the movie (and in this case, I didn’t even know the book existed when the movie came out), but that has never been more difficult than in this case. The movie is so good and the book is so different, I’ve struggled so much to not compare them and let the book stand on its own. Really, the only similarities are the names of people and places, the inclusion of both Vikings and dragons, Hiccup’s overall character, and the main “antagonist.”

Comparisons aside, I did enjoy the book. I was surprised that dragons in the book are thinking, reasoning creatures, with a language of their own, yet the Vikings capture and tame them like beasts, not bothering to pay any attention to their speech. It’s not something you’d probably want to think too hard about, though I did like the way it plays out in the book. I kept expecting the story to go different ways than it did (which could have been because of the movie, but I also think it’s because I’m used to how books, especially for this age group, tend to go), but it’s a charming story in the end, and Toothless grew on me too.

If you love the movie and are looking for a book like that, I don’t recommend you read this book. If you love David Tennant (or even if you don’t) and want to hear him do a brilliant job narrating a fun kids’ book, definitely consider listening to the audiobook. Overall, I’d say don’t let hearing that it’s not like the movie keep you from reading it, if you’re interested.

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Book Review: True Life in Uncanny Valley

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True Life in Uncanny Valley
by Deb Caletti

My rating: 1.5 / 5
Genre: YA contemporary

Eleanor has grown up with a single mom and always knowing that her dad is a wealthy, powerful tech/AI genius that doesn’t want anything to do with her, her sister, or their mom. But Eleanor can’t help but be obsessed with her dad and stalks him, both virtually and physically. When an opportunity comes up to work as nanny to her dad’s toddler son (her half-brother), Eleanor sort of falls into the job, but without revealing the truth about her identity and her connection to her charge or his father.

In case it’s not clear from my rating, I didn’t particularly enjoy this book. Humans are messy and creative and AI can never fully replicate them. That is the lesson that this entire book boils down to, which should be obvious to most of us. Of course, Caletti’s view of “messy” humans is downright terrible. Besides Eleanor’s deadbeat father, her mother is no peach either, fat-shaming Eleanor’s slightly chubby stomach, telling her how stupid she is, and making it clear that she’s always been an inconvenience. Eleanor’s older sister basically follows her mom’s lead, yet Eleanor often assures the reader that, “I know they really do love me.” I’m not buying it.

But on the plus side, Eleanor has two best friends who are basically perfect and perfect for her. The three of them have formed a book club through which they look down their noses at almost everyone else’s reading or book-reviewing habits. Seriously, I’m pretty sure that if I ever met these three, they’d absolutely hate me, and that’s considering that most of the specific things that Eleanor mentions the book club disliking aren’t even necessarily habits of mine. For example, they hate terms like “sickening thud” and seem to dislike half-star ratings (take that!) and constantly point out things that they think are cliché or tired tropes. Well, Soggy Bottom Book Club, to you I say that the inclusion of 3 best friends who don’t seem to ever fight and always understand each other perfectly is a cliché (and that!).

The main bright spot in this story is Eleanor’s connection to her little brother and even his mom, but even that comes with downsides. Like the fact that Eleanor is basically perfect as a nanny almost right away, despite some internal panic moments about really never having taken care of kids much in her life. And the fact that everyone is lying to everyone about everything pretty much through this entire book! (Except her best friends, because they’re perfect and always tell each other the truth.) There’s also a romance, which is nice at first, but then they start to make out all over Mexico and then there’s the super awkward sex scene—awkward meaning both that the characters are awkward and that I was incredibly awkward, because there are suddenly some very graphic descriptions. Though maybe it wasn’t as sudden as I thought at the time, considering the parade earlier in the book that I guess involves naked people and is just casually attended by people of all ages? Is this some Seattle thing I just don’t know about (and don’t want to know about)? I was also really thrown off by Eleanor saying (in the narration) that people of older generations, which in this case includes everyone from the toddler’s 30ish-year-old mom to Eleanor’s grandma’s age, were all about sex, but Eleanor’s generation isn’t…really? Really? 

On top of all of that, I didn’t really get along with the writing style, which is basically like stream of consciousness. For 400 pages. And Eleanor is obsessed with a comic book heroine named Miss Fury, Miss Fury’s author, and the villainous creator of Wonder Woman—a man who stole ideas from his wife. And by obsessed, I mean that she sees Miss Fury as inspiration, something to aspire to in her own life, and almost every situation she’s in, she thinks of how she’d act if she were Miss Fury. I learned way more about the creator of Wonder Woman (William Moulton Marston) than I would have ever wanted to know, especially while reading a fictional story.

This review has gone on quite long, but I think that, if nothing else, it showcases another problem with this book—there’s just TOO MUCH going on. I didn’t even touch on the AI aspect, beyond what I said at the beginning of the review. Eleanor seems to have far too little understanding of AI for her—you know what, no. I think I’ve said enough. If you’re still interested in reading this book, please check out the link below to see other reviews, though for once, I’m not as much in the minority in not enjoying this book too much, if that tells you anything (though yes, others did like it at least a little more than me).

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children’s for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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