Review: Lux by Brandon Sanderson & Steven Bohls

☆☆☆

Science Fiction — Science Fantasy — Urban Fantasy

This has Sanderson’s fingerprints on it but not his soul. The original Reckoners series is far superior. This book has some really good moments and others that are just off.

The story takes place in Texas. Lux is a floating city in the sky (because why not) that used to be Sugarland. Four Epics run it: Lifeforce, Languish, Stormcloud, and Wingflair. Lifeforce makes everybody there immortal, Wingflair keeps in floating, Stormcloud makes the atmosphere livable, and Languish can only dampen others’ powers. A small group of Reckoners is determined to take them down. But compared to a lot of other cities, Lux really isn’t THAT bad of a place.

I wasn’t crazy about most of the characters. They didn’t feel fully developed. They were more tropes than people, and if any of them died, I wouldn’t or didn’t care. It switches from first person with Jax to third person with other characters, including Epics. Languish was probably the most interesting to me.

So far this is available only on Audible. The narrator is pretty good except when doing women’s voices. He makes their voices super nasally, and I swear Paige’s voice changes half-way through. This is a result of trying too hard to represent the opposite gender. Dude, just talk.

The pacing is kind of all over the place. Some scenes are very drawn out; others are rushed. We spend so much time at the beginning with Jax’s childhood training that by the time he was ready to confront Epics, it felt like the book was about to be over. There are some serious clichés in here, too, like the fridging of Jax’s brother.

I was confused on a few things. I wasn’t sure why Lux had to be in the air. I guess to keep moving so they could pillage everywhere on the ground? It seemed like a lot of effort for a small reward. And when the city still floats even any Epics using powers. In the original series, it was stated that Epics could only be killed by their personal weaknesses, but here they’re saying if you can blow them up, that’s just as good.

I had a lot of issues with the science. It was wrong so often! I’ll accept mumbo jumbo for sci fi stuff, but basic science has to be right. I mean, this is stuff that is common knowledge. Here are three things that irked me: (These are minor spoilers.)

1. Objects fall at the same rate (barring air friction): In the book, the city falls a few feet, so all the objects also fall. In the book, the heavier, bottom objects fall faster than the lighter objects on top of them. This is wrong. I tried it at home just to be sure. (See here for the math behind it.)

2. You have to draw blood from a vein: In the book, characters just stick a syringe anywhere in the skin and suck blood like magic. No tourniquet, no special needles, nothing. You might suck up a drop of blood this way, but it won’t be good for anything.

3. Computer tech is very specialized: In the book, we have the All-Knowing Hacker/Tech Dude. He is good at everything to do with computers. No area is beyond his knowledge. This is impossible and completely unrealistic. It’s like expecting a concert violinist to also be an expert in all the other instruments, or a star football player to also be a star baseball, basketball, and hockey player.

Writing Advice: Proactive Characters

At the beginning of your story, your characters may be reacting to a bunch of stuff happening to them: They lost their job, their house got bombed, they were wrongfully jailed, aliens abducted them, whatever. You just throw stuff at them and watch them struggle. But after the first half, your main characters need to do more than react to weird stuff. They need to take charge of their lives and stop reacting. This makes the story much more interesting.

Look at Star Wars with Luke: First he’s just reacting as he works on his farm with new droids. Then he makes a decision to go to Alderaan. He’s more proactive now but still inexperienced. At the end, he joins the X-Wing fighters to assault the Death Star—a very proactive decision. The story is much more satisfying because of it.

A plot in which the characters merely react doesn’t make a great story, and it doesn’t create character development. So if you find yourself floundering in the middle of the story, let your characters take charge of their situation. You can still throw stuff at them, but they should start taking back control.

Book Lovers' Memes (Set 14)

 

Usage: Reluctant Vs. Reticent

 This issue has been popping up more and more lately. Again, these words are not interchangeable.

Reluctant is well understood. It means to resist doing something or to do something unwillingly.

But reticent is very specific. It means hesitant or unwilling to speak, not reluctant in general.

Trick to Remember

Reluctant is similar to hesitant.

Reticent is related to silence (-cent, s-enc).

Review: Strangers

Strangers by Michaelbrent Collings

☆☆☆☆
Horror

This is a someone-in-your-house-is-going-to-kill-you horror. The prologue is police finding a house (with bodies and a single insane survivor) after our crazy psychotic villain has finished with them. 

The main story focuses on the villain’s next target. For some reason my brain could not figure out the link between the two; I re-read the beginning several times before the blatantly obvious explanation found me.

The villain targets families with secrets. First he messes with them psychologically, then pressures them to confess or be killed. It’s all very creative and quite creepy and sometimes gruesome. 

It’s incredibly suspenseful, and the chapters are very short, so it’s very easy to keep going (“One more chapter … “one more chapter” … ) and stay up all night reading. The problem is I cannot do this without getting a massive migraine. As it was, I spent the whole weekend with migraines because I stayed up too late anyway. (And I know Michaelbrent gets killer migraines.)

A must if you enjoy horror or suspense.

For a version of the review with gifs, check here.

Language: Some occasional uses of s---

Sexual Content: General description of a striptease

Violence: Plenty, some of it gruesome

Review: Titanic: Iceberg Ahead

Titanic — Iceberg Ahead: The Story of the Disaster by Some of Those Who Were There by James W Bancroft

Nonfiction — History
☆☆☆☆

When I first learned about the Titanic in 4th grade, it captured my attention. I became hooked on history. A few months later, the wreck was discovered. Then I ordered a book (Discovering the Titanic) from a Scholastic book order, which I still have. I pored over this book over and over and over, eventually finding more books to supplement my addiction. (I did not like the 1997 movie.) My interest was piqued by this new book, but was there really anything new to learn about the Titanic?

Yes! I was pleasantly surprised. The first half of the book is a timeline of the disaster, pieced together through multiple witness accounts. Quite a few of these accounts I had never seen before. It started with the ship’s construction and concluded with the Carpathia rescue and initial reports. It really brought the disaster to life.

The second half provides a brief biography of many of the passengers (some survivors, some victims). This included parents’ names and birth dates and places—information less interesting to read through. Some people had really interesting lives that would make good biographies on their own.

Overall, it’s a nice addition to the collective history of the Titanic.

I received a free e-copy from NetGalley.

Review: Local Woman Missing

 

Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica

☆☆☆☆

Fiction — Mystery

A woman goes missing. Several weeks later, another woman goes missing, along with her 6-year-old daughter. They lived only a few miles from the first woman. Eleven years later, the daughter shows up, having escaped a childhood in captivity.

WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED? This question kept me up late every single night for the last week or so.

I was so focused on what happened that I didn’t even bother trying to figure out who. The pool of suspects is quite small if limited to just the characters you know well.

There are several main POVs: 

– Meredith, the missing mother, starting about six weeks before her disappearance (ultimately reaching that fateful day at the climax).

– Kate, a neighbor, who joins the search for Meredith and her daughter (Delilah) when she’s first noticed missing.

– Leo, Delilah’s brother, in the present. This is mostly second person as he addresses Delilah and tries to understand her with her psychological scars.

The narrative is so tantalizing as it gets closer and closer to explaining everything. But on the way it’s a story about people and what motivates them and how they deal with mistakes and make choices. It was very hard to put down. I did not guess the ending at all.

I wish there were more details on what Delilah went through. And I was really mad at Meredith for neglecting Leo for a job she didn’t really need.

I assume the text will go through a final proofing before publication. It had some weird formatting in my copy.

I received a free copy from NetGalley. It was the weirdest thing: They emailed me out of the blue and offered me the book. I wasn’t even a NetGalley member. I don’t know how they found me or why I was chosen. I was suspicious at first.

*   *   *

Language: Some moderate language

Sexual Content: Mostly implied; off-screen

Violence: Moderate amount of violence but not very graphic

Harm to Animals: None

Harm to Children: Kidnapping and abuse that is kept vague; bullying.

Other (Triggers): Drunken driving; a woman feels violated after a pap smear.

Review: Sister Sleuths

 

Sister Sleuths: Female Detectives in Britain by Nell Darby

☆☆☆☆

Nonfiction — History, Women’s History

This is a history of woman private investigators, primarily in England. There is not a lot of information out there, so this author painstakingly went through decades of census records and newspaper archives to piece together biographies of some of these women.

The book ended at 70 percent; the rest was all sources and notes!

In the 1880s, England passed a divorce act, which opened the door to not only become more independent but to support themselves as private investigators, known then as lady enquiry agents.

Any fan of history, women’s history, or British history should be fascinated with this. The writing has a very pleasing style with a focus on accuracy and staying disinterested. I just wish there was more information about individual cases out there.

I received an ARC from NetGalley.