science fiction

Book Review: The Guard

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The Guard
Lorien Legacies: The Lost Files #12
by Pittacus Lore

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: YA sci-fi

Spoiler notice: The following review may contain spoilers for the main series, starting with I Am Number Four.

While the Garde hide and grow, Lexa waits in the shadows, doing whatever she can to help them from a distance, until such time as they might need her. Since Lexa has always felt a bit mediocre to me, this book was mostly mediocre too. There isn’t much new here or particularly interesting. It’s really just a way to re-visit the world of the main series and possibly get excited for the next book of the series. For those who have already read the main series, you can probably skip this one unless you just love the books so much you want to read everything that was written.

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Book Review: Stellar English

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Stellar English
by Frank L. Cioffi

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Grammar guide / sci-fi story

Part grammar guide, part sci-fi novel, Stellar English was a very different kind of read. For a few years after high school I often consulted a grammar guide I was given by my high school AP English teacher, and I definitely only opened it when I needed to remind myself of certain grammar rules while writing. (I guess books like that are pretty obsolete now, when one can simply look online for answers to grammar questions, assuming that one cares enough about their grammar to ask a question.) In some ways, this book reminds me of that guide that I had, but where that guide used sentences from other published works, this guide’s example sentences were written to form a new work of fiction—the story of an alien invasion on Earth.

Understandably, I never read the entirety of the grammar guide I got in high school. However, Cioffi seems to have a strong desire for people, even in our present age of the internet and AI, to have a good grasp of grammar, so the sci-fi narrative throughout the guide is intended to entice a reader to read through the entire book, not just look for info on an as-needed basis. I read the book as intended, though I have to admit to skimming some of the grammar section when the information was something I feel I have a good grasp on. Still, I picked up a few helpful tidbits and felt justified in having ignored the “don’t end a sentence with a preposition” rule that I have long felt makes little sense to follow so strictly anymore. The somewhat conversational tone made the grammar part of the book not as tedious as it might sound.

As for the narrative told in the example sentences, it is easy to follow and overall a brief, somewhat shallow story. Aliens land on Earth, and the focus is more on the human reaction to the perceived invasion than on the aliens themselves. At times the pace is very slow, and at times it jumps ahead quickly. Considering the nature and context of the story being told, I can’t really fault the pacing choices though. The story of the invasion and the aliens themselves were inventive, though a little less exciting in the end than I might have hoped for. And there was some unnecessary political commentary in the story that bugged me a little. Overall, though, the story did its job in giving me a reason to read through the book in its entirety (minus some skimming). Anyone who is interested in improving their grammar or simply in reading a unique take on a grammar guide or a sci-fi story should considering picking up a copy of Stellar English.

I received a copy of this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

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Book Review: Misplaced Threats

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Misplaced Threats
by Alan Zimm

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Sci-fi

From the official synopsis: Decades after The Shift, 17 Systems were locked into an entrenched authoritarian government ruled by gene-selected elites. ‘The 35 ‘royal’ Families and 50 Great Corporations control the Federated government, as a self-centered tyranny, the very definition of fascism.

Mike just wants to open a restaurant to earn some money. Ghost just wants to be left alone to live his life and breathe oxygen without being fined. But they, along with many others, learn that the system is not set up to work for them, to help them in any way, or to care about anyone but the elite.

I struggled to write the synopsis for this book, because I struggle to explain the main plot. A lot of characters are introduced early on, though eventually Mike and Ghost rise to the top as the two biggest characters (Mike being the main, in my mind). Almost everything else in the book was some kind of support to their stories, minus one side plot that I think could have easily been cut and the book wouldn’t have lost anything. Even though I wasn’t sure what the main plot was though, I enjoyed the book overall. I’m not a space opera expert by any means, but I really appreciated the world building in this book. Major and minor details worked together really well, and I felt immersed in the overall setting. More specifically, Mike’s restaurant is amazing! There’s a lot of creativity there, and it’s one of the reasons I was always happy to go back to Mike’s POV.

The author is great with characters and dialog. Conversations, especially between patrons of Mike’s restaurant, feel completely realistic. Part of that is also involved in the world building I mentioned earlier—being futuristic and set far from Earth, there would have to be a lot of different terminology, and there is, yet I never felt bogged down by it. In fact, there are even quite a few pop-culture references in the book, and even some more obscure references (one of which particularly amazed me), and they actually fit in really well.

My biggest issue with this book, aside from the one side plot I mentioned earlier than didn’t seem like it added much and was pretty anti-climactic and unsatisfying, is the heavy sci-fi elements. This type of sci-fi is not something I normally read, so it may be completely normal, but I did a lot of skimming throughout the book when piloting of ships, specifics about the mechanics of the food delivery in the restaurant, things like that, got too detailed. I knew I wasn’t going to follow it anyway. But overall, I enjoyed the book and hope that the author is going to continue the series (the first one was originally published in 2023) so I can read more about these characters and (fingers crossed) maybe a little more about the side plot that I felt went nowhere. And one more thing—this book is self-published, and though I’d imagine a publisher may have made some changes to the style and flow, it avoids many of the annoyances that I often find in self-published books. If you’re interested in reading this book, I’d recommend it.

I received a copy of this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

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Book Review: The Navigator

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The Navigator
Lorien Legacies: The Lost Files #11
by Pittacus Lore

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: YA sci-fi

Spoiler notice: The following review may contain spoilers for the main series, starting with I Am Number Four.

Decades before the main series begins, when the Mogodorian attack begins on Lorien, Lexa is conscripted to fly an old-fashioned space ship in an attempt to escape. Once on Earth, she and her companions must try to track down the other Loric that made it off the planet, but more than that, they have to survive in this alien world.

I don’t remember having any particular attachment to Lexa when reading the main series or wondering about her backstory, but this was still an interesting read. I appreciated seeing Lorien before and during the invasion and also getting an idea of the culture and political climate from the perspective of someone who actually lived there. I enjoyed this novella a little more than the previous, which could be due in part to Sarah (my least favorite of the major characters from the main series) not being involved at all. For those who have read and enjoyed the main series and want to revisit the world, you definitely consider reading this as well.

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Book Review: The Fugitive

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The Fugitive
Lorien Legacies: The Lost Files #10
by Pittacus Lore

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: YA sci-fi

Spoiler notice: The following review may contain spoilers for the main series, starting with I Am Number Four.

Upon learning the whereabouts of Sarah Hart, Mark James heads to New Mexico to mount a one-man rescue, all the while trying to stay out of the hands of the Mogadorian-allied FBI.

This quick read was not a bad way to re-visit the world of the Garde and Mogadorian threat. I didn’t care for Mark in the first book, but he grew on me when he joined the cause. He was always in the background though, so it was interesting to see him more front and center here. Of course, I never much cared for Sarah as a character; I don’t feel that the author really created her in such a way that it makes sense for both John and Mark to pine over her, but that doesn’t really affect this story. Since I have read the whole Lorien Legacies series, I already knew the outcome of this novella, so the big reveal wasn’t news to me and cliffhanger wasn’t particularly thrilling. Again, this isn’t any fault with the story itself. Overall, the story was decent but not super exciting for me. Maybe it would have been different if I’d read it at the place it occurred in the series, instead of after it was all done, but oh well. You definitely wouldn’t want to read this if you haven’t read any of the series. If you have and liked the series, you might want to read this as well.

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Book Review: The Kaiju Preservation Society

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The Kaiju Preservation Society
by John Scalzi
Read by Wil Wheaton

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Sci-fi

When Jamie Gray is fired right before COVID lockdowns, he has to resort to food delivery for the very company that fired him. (Note: Yes, Scalzi again here never assigns a pronoun to the MC, but since the narrator I listened to is male and it would be a pain to continue to refer to the MC by the MC’s name rather than use a pronoun, I am going to refer to Jamie Gray as “he” in my review.) Then a delivery to an old acquaintance lands Jamie a better job (because really, anything would be better) with an animal rights organization that turns out to be Jamie’s entrance into his very own sci-fi story.

Overall, this book is a fun, light sci-fi adventure. I did not know the backstory of the name, but I’m sure many others will be aware that kaiju is the general term of movie monsters like Godzilla and Mothra. The story here is that kaiju are from an alternate dimension and occasionally cross over to our dimension, and sightings led to the famous monster movies. The Kaiju Preservation Society is set up in that alternate dimension and basically studies the giant creatures while attempting to keep the two dimensions separate. Jamie is dropped into the middle of this situation and has to learn the ropes basically on the fly. I struggled to understand what the main conflict/plot was for a while, but by the time it really got going, I was mostly enjoying the story. Based only on that, I probably would have rated the book higher.

Unfortunately, Scalzi’s style and political/social leanings detracted heavily from the book for me. When I read Lock In, my first Scalzi, I noted that he tends to write conversations with little in the way of descriptions of what the characters are doing. In that book, it worked for me, at least partly because the main character was just a consciousness within a metal suit. In this book, the lack of descriptions and the overused, super basic dialog tags constantly back and forth (i.e. “I said.” “Kahurangi said.” “I said.” etc.) made the style a little too bland for me. (And by the way, kudos to Wil Wheaton for making it through the many odd names in this book.) Aside from those issues, I actually almost stopped listening to the book when, after the main character leaves behind his two homosexual roommates, he meets a character who is introduced with the “they” pronoun (which, by the way, confused me greatly about how many people were being introduced before I realized what the author was going for). It was a judgment call on my part to keep listening, but I feel that other Christians who read this review should be made aware of the concerns I had that almost led me to stop. There is also quite a bit of language, though I have come to expect that from books like this. I’m overall glad I read the book and tend to think that fans of Scalzi will generally enjoy this book as well. If you are new to his style, though, I don’t know that I’d recommend you start with this one.

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Book Review: United as One

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United as One
Lorien Legacies #7
by Pittacus Lore

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: YA sci-fi

Spoiler notice: The following review will contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, starting with I Am Number Four.

The Mogodorians have been pushed back, if only slightly, and new human Garde are rising up. Does John have what it takes to lead a new generation against Setrakus Ra and take back the Earth once and for all?

Here at the end of the story, I have to stay that it did not differ too greatly from what I expected of it, though there certainly were some paths that I didn’t anticipate. I think, though, that most of those paths ended up not really leading anywhere particularly important. I feel like the author set up some things that just didn’t pan out in a satisfying way. I also think some of the characters that had larger roles in the previous books are shunted to the side, and only three characters really get to do much in this book. That probably means that the author let the cast list get a bit bloated, which I suppose would have been difficult to avoid, given the premise of this series, but the issue mostly comes when he can’t maintain it. And the climax…I don’t want to spoil anything, but I really anticipated more direct involvement by the original Garde.

On the other side of things, though, even if there weren’t any major twists or brilliant moments, the book still brings an overall satisfying confusion to a series that I mostly enjoyed. Battle fatigue understandably hits John, not to mention grief over the loss of a loved one (not that I was ever a huge fan of that relationship). Unfortunately, all of this makes parts of the book a little slow, but the weak ending doesn’t diminish my overall enjoyment of the series. I’d probably call it a 4-star series. I liked it enough to try out some of the side stories and at least consider the spin-off series. As for recommendations, fans of YA action stories, especially in the sci-fi genre, should definitely give this series a try.

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Book Review: Free

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Free
by E.B. Roshan

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Children’s sci-fi graphic novel

Rex was once a bodyguard whose career came to an end when he was crippled. His new life as a fruit picker isn’t fulfilling, but when he gets a chance to put his bodyguard skills to use again, he isn’t so sure that’s what he wants either.

This is a short, well-crafted sci-fi story for kids. It took me only about 20 minutes to read it, but in that time, I managed to grow attached to Rex and appreciate his misgivings. Roshan doesn’t delve too deeply into the immoral nature of the man that Rex works for, but she shows enough that the age range it’s meant for can understand. The graphics were well-done, especially when taking into account that this graphic novel is self-published. One of the things I liked the most is the amount of creativity the author put into the different alien creatures, both in the foreground and the background of the illustrations. I could definitely see this being a book that young readers (maybe around 8-10 years old?) would enjoy and a nice early delve into space-based sci-fi.

I received a copy of this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

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Book Review: The Fate of Ten

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The Fate of Ten
Lorien Legacies #6
by Pittacus Lore

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: YA sci-fi

Spoiler notice: The following review will contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, starting with I Am Number Four.

Once again split up, the Garde are unable to work together as intended to deal with the Mogodorian invasion of Earth. But whether or not the excursion to Mexico will be as helpful as they had hoped remains to be seen. Meanwhile, fighting amongst some of the Garde makes it difficult for John to focus on stopping the Mogadorians.

I really did not expect this series to get to the point it has—full-scale invasion. It’s a lot for a small number of newly powered teenagers to handle, so it’s a good thing they’re gaining some unexpected allies. I’ve also enjoyed most of this series more than I thought I would, considering that it’s overall fairly shallow and action-based. I like some of the characters and their friendships (though there are a couple of characters and relationships I couldn’t care less about), and Adam is really growing on me. I’d really like to know more about his “relationship” with One.

It seemed to me that the language was suddenly ramped up in this book. I’m not going to go back and check past books, but to my recollection at least, it feels like, on a scale of 1 to 10, we went from a 1 or 2 to a 7, which is quite a leap. Overall, though, I’m enjoying the ride. Taken as a fun, sci-fi romp and not any kind of deep literature, it’s kept me engaged pretty solidly since book #3 (I enjoyed book #1 but found #2 pretty boring). I’m looking forward to reading the final one, and though I didn’t originally intend to bother with the novellas, I’m starting to think I should really check them out.

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Book Review: The Revenge of Seven

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The Revenge of Seven
Lorien Legacies #5
by Pittacus Lore

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: YA sci-fi

Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, starting with I Am Number Four.

The Garde are split up and hurting, betrayed by one of their own and on the run. But they’ve also gained an unlikely ally in Adam, who can help them understand the enemy a little better. The disastrous future that John saw in Ella’s vision is looming, maybe sooner than they think, so their next steps are crucial.

The action, suspense, and stakes are really ramping up here in the back half of the series. Since the author(s) clearly has/have no issue with killing characters off (not that it’s been super common, except for the Cêpan), I’m often on edge waiting to see the outcome of an encounter with the Mogadorians, especially during the climax. The revelations of what the “Beloved Leader” and his human allies have done or allowed is totally believable, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the fallout and looming invasion continue into the next book.

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