Tag: Reviews

How Not to Be a Hot Mess: A Survival Guide for Modern Life by Craig Hase, Devon Hase

How Not to Be a Hot Mess: A Survival Guide for Modern Life by Craig Hase, Devon Hase

“(This book) draws on Buddhist advice because, believe it or not, Buddhism has been through it all before. It’s seen wars, plagues, oppression, and ten thousand terrible haircuts – and it has, along the way, developed dependable ways to stay steady in the roller coaster of family feuds, romantic vacillations, uncertain futures, and all the rest.” pg 9, ebook

How Not to be a Hot Mess was a timely read for me, though there was little in here that was “new”. Instead, it offers gentle reminders to meditate, tell the truth, be generous and take care of yourself – all things that help mitigate hot messiness in the day-to-day.

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“So there are approximately one bajillion reasons why you should meditate. The top three reasons as I’ve just mentioned, are that you’ll be less stressed, more focused, and you might even stumble your way into slightly better humanhood.” pg 23, ebook

I used to meditate every day. But then, for whatever reason, I fell out of the habit. I’m going to be doing my best to bring it back because I think I was a calmer person and less reactive to things.

This book also reminded me about skillful speech.

“There are people out there- and I’ve met a lot of them now- who follow these guidelines of True, Kind, Timely, Helpful beautifully. And they all have some things in common: they have good friends, stable community connections, a sort of quiet confidence, and they kind of glow.” pg 53, ebook

I don’t tend to say a lot but I try to make what I say fit within those guidelines. This book reminded me of how important this can be. It’s like modern life makes me forget sometimes, in the mad crush and noise, what’s really important.

“You, too, can do this. It’s not just for fancy historical figures or people who write books and give TED talks and share wisdom from the mountaintops. You really can stay clear, say what’s true, give a little, make sex good, meditate occasionally, and be less of a jerk and more of a stable loving presence in your world. Right in the middle of everything.” pgs 84-85, ebook

Yes, I can do this. And so can you. Happy reading, friends.

The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1) by R.F. Kuang

The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1) by R.F. Kuang

“Her destiny had not been written in the stars… She had made her choices fully and autonomously. pg 528 ebook

The Poppy War begins like other fantasy novels: an underprivileged young person fights her way into a school where she learns more than she ever imagined. But after that, things go in an entirely different direction with war and all of the darkness and misery that goes along with that.

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Despite friend’s reviews that this was a dark book, I didn’t expect it to go as far as it did. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a great story about human passions, shamanism, and war – it was just hard to read at times.

And it is a long book, which is great because it gives R.F. Kuang plenty of time to develop characters and flesh out her world. She does both very well.

My favorite parts of the book were Rin’s interactions with her fellow soldiers, the Cike, a group of shamans who all have different powers. Their comradery was refreshing in the midst of some very dark times.

This is not a young adult book, so librarians please classify it correctly. Highly recommended for readers who like their fantasy epic and dark.

Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries, #3) by Martha Wells

Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries, #3) by Martha Wells

“The good thing about pretending to be an augmented human security consultant instead of a construct SecUnit is that you can tell the humans to shut up.” pg 11, ebook

Murderbot is still on the case of GrayCris, a company it suspects is illegally mining materials from ancient alien civilizations. There are also humans who need help- as usual. Why can’t people just save themselves so our hero could get on watching its favorite entertainment vids?

“Actually, with my experience in security, anybody who wanted to hang around and live on a deteriorating terraforming facility worried me a lot more than raiders.” pg 40, ebook

Rogue Protocol though fun, didn’t live up to the quality of the first two books in this series. The plot was quite similar to the first book. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great read, but I think the first two books were better than this one.

I will be continuing on in the series, which I highly recommend for science fiction fans.

Vermilion: The Adventures of Lou Merriwether, Psychopomp by Molly Tanzer

Vermilion: The Adventures of Lou Merriwether, Psychopomp by Molly Tanzer

“How Lou hated dealing with the living. The dead were so much easier to manage.” loc 256 ebook.

Lou Merriwether is a psychopomp, or someone who assists spirits from the world of the living to the world of the dead. She doesn’t get along all that well with the living, including her mother, whom Lou had a falling out with around the time that her father passed away.

But when her mother asks her to investigate a series of disappearances, Lou feels like she can’t refuse and begins an adventure across the country and into danger, more danger than she realizes.

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“She’d hoped a personal visit to the Oakland office would yield better results than her telegram to Cheyenne, but it seemed no one wanted to talk. loc 863, ebook

In addition to her personal drama, Lou has to deal with racism almost all the time as a half-Chinese, half-white person. She finds all of this easier to deal with by dressing as a man.

I loved the character of Lou- she was so feisty and willing to stick her neck out to help her friends and, sometimes, people she just met. She occasionally uses colorful language, so be warned if that sort of thing bothers you.

This world has so many curious fantasy elements to it. There are talking walruses who ferry people from one place to another. There are talking bear tribes alongside Native American tribes in the west.

The author Molly Tanzer has such a huge imagination. The world she has created is dangerous but also fun to explore.

Highly recommended for fantasy and steampunk fans. I really enjoyed this one.

A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan, #1) by Arkady Martine

A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan, #1) by Arkady Martine

In A Memory Called Empire, a diplomat from an out-of-the-way space station makes her way through the Teixcalaan Empire, a society which is in some ways more advanced than her own, but in other ways not.

The most interesting part of this novel was the world building. Arkady Martin has created an amazing space opera with fascinating technologies and cultures.

On the other hand, her characters didn’t appeal to me at all. I made myself finish the book, but didn’t care much about what happened to anyone.

I wasn’t surprised this book won the Hugo Award – for world building alone.

For a first novel, it is a tremendous effort and I’m certain Arkady will write more fascinating books in the future.

Perhaps I’ll give some of those other books a go. I won’t be continuing on to the other books in this series.

Science of the Magical: From the Holy Grail to Love Potions to Superpowers by Matt Kaplan

Science of the Magical: From the Holy Grail to Love Potions to Superpowers by Matt Kaplan

“Does knowing how something magical works make it into something other than magic?” pg 7

In Science of the Magical, science correspondent Matt Kaplan examines phenomena from prophecy to immortality and more, seeking the science behind the magic. The result is a compelling look at life and humanity’s beliefs around such things.

“Our ancestors had a magical worldview. … For the Viking berserkers, no biochemistry was behind their rage; Odin was casting a spell. For pilgrims visiting the oracle at Delhi, no ethylene vapors were creeping up the fault below the temple; the spirit of Apollo was coming to force the priestess to speak with his voice.” pg 212

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You would think these activities would lose their magical feeling under Kaplan’s microscope, but the opposite is true. I felt more wonder learning the studies about Buddhist monks who can sit wrapped in wet sheets and not freeze or the symbiotic relationship between ravens and wolves, which was immortalized in the stories about Odin.

“… Dr. Stahler suspects that because wolf kills are considerably larger than those made by coyotes, the birds have more food to feed on. The ravens seem to have the ability to differentiate between the animals and selectively follow only wolves.” pg 102

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Though I knew some of what Kaplan reports in these pages, other ideas were totally new to me. Highly recommended for readers who enjoy non-fiction.

Thanks for reading!

How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It (The Siege #2) by K.J. Parker

How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It (The Siege #2) by K.J. Parker

“… what the people want is something that looks at first sight like real life, but which actually turns out to be a fairy tale with virtue triumphant, evil utterly vanquished, a positive, uplifting message, a gutsy, kick-ass female lead and, if at all possible, unicorns.” pg 11, ebook

K.J. Parker (pen name for Tom Holt) gives readers all of that in this book – sorry, minus the unicorns.

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The city has been under siege for decades. Readers are given the history of all that in the last book.

In this entry in the series, it is all about surviving and keeping hope alive against unbelievable odds. The enemy outside the gates outnumbers the survivors in the city by thousands. What hope can be had?

Enter Notker, a professional actor who, among other things, excels at mimicking city leaders.

“Accordingly, the death of Lysimachus – if true – was a devastating blow to me personally, purely because imitating him accounted for something like forty per cent of my income. Sure, you can still imitate people after they’re dead, but there just isn’t the same demand.” pg 24, ebook

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When Notker gets pulled into government, he shows an unexpected talent for keeping the city’s hopes alive. It is a delight finding out how he does all of it, so I won’t spoil it for you.

You don’t have to have read the first book in the series to appreciate this one. (I read the first months ago and didn’t really remember much of it.) But I imagine if you read them back to back, you’ll find some hidden gems tying the two books together.

“If you stopped to think about it you’d never do it, so don’t stop and think.” pg 98, ebook

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The most interesting character in the book is a tie between Notker and Hodda (the female lead, so to speak). Both develop as the story goes along in predictable and unpredictable ways. I loved every twist as the characters fought for their survival.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It is a cross between historical fiction and something that feels like a Shakespearean play. Highly recommended.

Old Man’s War (Old Man’s War, #1) by John Scalzi

Old Man’s War (Old Man’s War, #1) by John Scalzi

In Old Man’s War, humanity has gone to the stars, and it’s a jungle out there. For the people on Earth, life and death continues as it always has. Out in space, it’s a whole different story…

I really enjoyed this book. After recently reading and being disappointed by John Scalzi’s The Kaiju Preservation Society, a friend recommended I give this series a try.

It is a fast-moving, action-packed book full of fascinating aliens and small (sometimes large) windows into the human condition.

I read it in two days – that’s how good it is.

A couple times, I felt like the narration was bogged down by scientific jargon. But for the most part, I loved it.

Highly recommended for science fiction readers.

WebMage (Webmage #1, Ravirn #1) by Kelly McCullough

WebMage (Webmage #1, Ravirn #1) by Kelly McCullough

“I’m a thoroughly modern sorcerer, a code-warrior, a programmer. I’m not a classical magician. I hate the old ways. They’re painful, inefficient, and hideously dangerous.” pg 81, ebook

Ravirn uses magic like programmers use code- it’s a unique magic system and author Kelly McCullough should be very proud for coming up with it. I loved that part of the story.

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The wizard’s minions act like computer programs and execute directives given to them. They’re curious creatures, full of attitude and spunk. The closest comparison that immediately pops into my mind is Harry Dresden’s skull- Bob.

But unlike Dresden, Ravirn’s magic is coded and can be bugged. So when one of the Fates comes to him with an idea of how to change reality through a particularly nasty computer program, his adventure truly begins.

“Life with you is always interesting. I don’t know what I’d do for entertainment without the chaos that follows in your wake.” pg 196, ebook

This story is action from the beginning. One event after another spins our hero in circles. I could have used a few breaks from the action myself, but readers who crave that sort of thing may really like this one.

I keep going back to the Dresden Files as a comparison for this story and I think it’s apt. We have a love interest, minions (as I mentioned), magic and a dry sense of humor that seeps out of the story. Recommended for fans of those books as well as general fantasy readers.

Thanks for reading!