Book Reviews

Gemina (Illuminae Files), Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff, Marie Lu

Meanwhile, while everything that could possibly go wrong, is going wrong in the Kerenza Sector on the Hypatia. Heimdall Station is going on with life like everything is normal not knowing that they are next in the clean up job being handled by BeiTech Industries. Hanna Donnelly is normal teenage girl who’s hobbies include shopping, being the best in the Dojo, war games with her Dad, the Commander of Heimdall and the occasional “party favor” from our favorite neighborhood drug dealer Niklas “Nik” Malikov. Nik Malikov on the other hand is a part of “The House of Knives” gang, and once you’re in it, you’re in it for life. Heimdall Station is the wormhole jump point that the Hypatia is hoping to make it to in order to survive, but that they don’t know is that they are having a lot of technical difficulties with the wormhole, and that all of their radio transmissions are being filtered by a BeiTech operative on the inside of Heimdall Station With the upcoming holiday of Terra Day a lot of the crew of Heimdall station are either off station with loved ones or they are taking the evening off. They never knew that this would be a Terra Day they would never forget, especially for Hanna and Nik as they try to save their homes and themselves from the BeiTech operatives meant to wipe out the entire station.
 I absolutely loved this book. I don’t know why I don’t read more sci-fi because I have been really enjoying this series. Granted I have been listening to the entire thing on Audible, which is SO MUCH FUN! They use an entire cast on Audible and it just makes it so different than other audiobooks that I have listened to. I love how these books are paced. There’s enough time to know who the major characters are and be able to visualize the surroundings. I also love in this series how the women are not afraid to do what is necessary to save the world, they aren’t waiting for someone to uplift them and make them feel stronger, they know their worth and they kick butt doing it. The men of course are not helpless and do their own things to help, but they never try to put the women down. If at any point they hint that the women are weaker than them, the women are quick to let them know who they are and that they can get this done without them. I definitely recommend this book especially if you’ve already read Illuminae Files. Until next time,
Keep turning the Pages
India
Book Reviews

Illuminae Files, Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Kady thought that her life could not get any worse. She had just broke up with her boyfriend, Ezra, and she thought that she was going to be able to move on and go off planet somewhere after graduation. Little did she know that going off planet was happening a lot faster than she expected. All of a sudden while sitting in class, all of the warning bells go off alerting the planet to an invasion. It is then that all chaos breaks loose and the everything that Kady knows and loves comes crumbling down around her. Kady is forced to try and find a way off the planet and to stay close to the ones she loves, and who love her. She is forced to flee the home that she knows and grow and learn more than she ever thought imaginable. Kady has to overcome her fears and reservations and become  a leader and warrior in her own right. The system is in the hands of a 16 year old girl and a palm pad.
I absolutely loved this book! I listened to it solely on audible. I did not buy the kindle version or the paper version of the book. They did such an amazing job on the audible version with a full cast and everything that I didn’t feel the need for either of those things.  I heard that if you try and read the actual copy it might be a little difficult to do. I enjoyed the story and the twists and turns that were associated with our main character Kady. I also loved the role that Ezra had to play as kind of her humanity and her voice of reason, and of course her anchor. AIDAN was his own character who also had his own role to play, which turned out to be a giant one. Who knew a computer program system could have so much personality when they are not supposed to. If you haven’t picked up the Illuminae Files by Amie Kauffman and Jay Kristoff I definitely recommend it and do it on Audible! You’ll enjoy it even more, I promise. I can’t wait to read Gemina and Obsidio when I get through some of my TBR. I have a review up on my channel now if you want to listen to it as well. You can check it out here. If you’ve read it what do you think? Any other sci-fi fantasy novels that you can recommend? Until next time,
Keep turning the Pages
India
Bookish, Unboxings

July 2018 Litjoy Crate Unboxing

This box was a lot of fun and stayed true to theme! This sci-fi box titled, Warriors of the Stars, is filled with items from some of the classic science fiction adventures, including Star Wars and Marvel’s: Guardians of the Galaxy. Sci-fi is not my favorite genre to read, but I did really enjoy the Illuminae Files Series and I believe if you liked that you will like Sanctuary! There’s a list of items below, and you can find my full unboxing on my Youtube Channel!

 

  • A SIGNED COPY and LitJoy exclusive art of The Young Adult novel: Sanctuary by Caryn Lix
  • Lunar Chronicles Trading Cards (Lihn Cinder and Queen Levana)
  • Firefly quote full-size pillow. “I’m a leaf in the wind, watch how I soar”.  Cuddle up with your pillow and start reading!
  • Guardians of the Galaxy cross body tote bag. “I’m Mary Poppins y’all” This is perfect to wear to transport your favorite reads on the go!
  • Cute Groot cube art holder This mini Cute Groot weighted photo clip is perfect for displaying all of your LitJoy prints!
  • Star Wars “Rebel Scum” enamel pin.  Just as Star Wars had its Rebel Resistance, Sanctuary has its rebel prisoners! Now wear your “Rebel Scum” pin with pride!
  • “Take Me To Your Reader” bookmark.  Enjoy marking the pages of Sanctuary’s alien invasion with this punny bookmark!
  • Aloy Print.  Many of the descriptions of the non-corporate parts of Earth reminded us of the post-apocalyptic world where Aloy lives and fights

 

What did you think of this box? The book sounds really good, but a lot of the other items I could have done without. I do love the books that I get in these boxes though because they introduce me to books I probably would have never picked up! Let me know what you think! Until next time,

Keep Turning the Pages

India

 

Book Reviews

Binti, Nnedi Okorafur

– Short Story – 

Binti is about a girl, Binti, who is the first of her kind to ever be invited to this grand Oomza University where only the brightest are accepted from around the world and the galaxy. For her family leaving is not an option, it’s not something that they do. The people of the Himba tribe stayed where they were and created amazing things that were used throughout the world.
The majority of people are Khoush, who believe that they are better than the Himba people, but they really just don’t understand them. Binta has certain things that her and her people do including braiding their hair down, and using a mixture of natural ingredients called otjize in their hair on their body. They never washed it off and were called “dirt bathers” because of it.
Binti knew what it meant to leave her village and her home, but she also know what it would feel like to not go to a place where a whole new world awaited her. She knew that she was going to learn amazing things while gone, but she never thought that she was going to learn so much about herself, and invoke so much change in the world.

– What I Thought  –

I really enjoyed this novella and wished that it was longer…of course then it wouldn’t be a novella…. There are more after Binti, but I’ll read those later. It’s a sci-fi- novella and that made it a lot of fun to explore the different worlds, but even through out it there are a lot of places for discussion. The novella brings up what it is like to be different, and looked down upon based on what you look like and what society has deemed you are to be.  Okorafur also brings in the ideas of stereotyping other individuals, and trying to come into your own. There are more books in this novella, which is good because I felt that it ended rather abruptly and did not answer any questions. There are a lot of holes in the story, but overall it is a good story. I can’t wait to read the rest of them. As always there is a more detailed review on my YouTube channel! Until next time,
Keep turning the Pages
90s Born Reader