Everfound has a great balance of introducing new elements, tying up plot threads, and leaving room for the story to continue after the book is closed. Everyone gets where they need to go, but that answer is different for each one. A great read, well worth it.

Bastard out of Carolina was a hard book for me to read. It’s full of rage and pain and trauma because it is capturing the shape of real rage and pain and trauma. It is dark because dark things happen. The narrator is a child slowly losing naïveté but without enough well-rounded experience to stop being seen as innocent. She is hurt and confused because she is being hurt without reason or sense. Nominally she is blamed but it isn’t her fault, it can’t be. Minimizing spoilers, Bastard out of Carolina requires trigger warnings for child abuse and rape. It is a good book, one that should be read either as a window or an outlet, for it is worth your time and your attention. “Enjoy” is not the word, but I recommend Bastard out of Carolina for how it crosses taboos to reach for wordless rage and common traumatic experiences. Rape and child abuse should not be common. But since they are we must also have the words to speak of them.

Feed by Mira Grant is a post-apocalyptic book about life/media moving on after the end. Set in 2039 after zombies rose in 2014, it posits a world of dizzying connectedness and loneliness. It’s a political thriller, a monster story, and a wild ride.

Feed’s portrayal of politics and life after the Rising dances on a fine line between world building and info-dumping, and I think it mostly gets it right. The characterization has the right level of attention, given what the narrator would be expected to know. The interstitial passages add insight and depth to the secondary characters, acknowledging a fallible narrator without making her an unreliable one. It sets up preconceptions which are challenged in Feed, shaken in Deadline, and shattered in Blackout. I love these books, I come back to this series about once every two years and it never gets old.

‪Deadline is dark and grim and wonderful. A great sequel to Feed, it feels a bit like a heist or a spy thriller, but it is a book of mourning, loss, and deep wells of pain. Welcome to After The End Times: the worst monsters are human.

This book is very hard to discuss without spoiling Feed. To me, the solution is clear. If you have ever liked a zombie book: read this series. If you like political thrillers that get a bit spy/detective as the series moves on: read this series. If you like post-apocalyptic novels: read this series.

NOS4A2 is smartly written, insightful, reflects an understanding of inner life... and is a spiraling well of darkness and depravity so deep that I had to take a several month break before finishing it. A horror novel, both damn good and deeply disturbing.

Horror is not my usual genre (and reading this book on my lunch break was a TERRIBLE idea), but I am glad that I read this book, and I am optimistic that I'll like more books by this author, as I hadn't read his work before. If you like horror, I recommend it. If you aren't sure, give it a try, but don't try to push through if it stresses you out too much because it will NOT let up.

*Updating my review to say that after thinking more about the ableism surrounding a secondary character's stutter (difficulty speaking is treated as part of the horror), and killing a character immediately after heavily implying that they're queer, I no longer highly recommend this, but if you already like horror you might enjoy it. 

Blackout is about moving on after trauma, coping with loss, and fighting monsters within and without, where every decision costs time and blood. Deadline felt like trying to breathe, Blackout is a defiant scream and headlong charge.

The balance between closing existing plot threads and establishing/closing new ones is very good. The resolution makes sense without feeling inevitable and there are some truly stunning scenes that build rich and tiny worlds which will only be visited once before they’re gone. This is my favorite book of the original trilogy (Deadline is good, but it’s very much the first half of Blackout’s story and it suffers a little for it), and I’m looking forward to checking out Feedback next.

The Invasion sets up the world of the Animorphs and has a good mix of plot and info-dump. It establishes the expectation that they won't have it easy, that they need to keep secrets, and that morphing isn't just a toy. A good series opener!



For those who are currently unaware:

Animorphs is a series about a group of five friends (and later one more friend, we'll get to him) who find out that the Earth is being invaded by parasitic aliens that could be in anyone but not yet everyone. They must use the power to change into any animal they have "acquired" in order to fight the alien invasion, all while being unable to tell the ones they love that they are in a daily struggle that leaves them emotionally wrecked on a regular basis.

This series deals with anxiety, body horror, death, loss, violence, divorce, death of parent(s), trying to trust when it's inherently unsafe to do so, being child soldiers, war, ptsd, and probably some other things I've forgotten right now but this re-read will refresh my memory. It's a really good series and was formative for a lot of people who spent at least part of their childhood in the 90's or into the early aughts (myself and my co-host included). I'll try to keep these reviews spoiler-free but honestly you should just read this series if you get a chance.

The Visitor establishes the stakes of the series, showing the small battles in a way that is very impactful without being melodramatic. The Animorphs gain someone to fight for, rather than just someone to fight against. Also Rachel is badass.

The Encounter hones in on the full body-horror of morphing when Tobias grapples with his new reality and how much of it his friends share. This book depicts despair, grief, personal loss, and figuring out how to move on when you can't go back.

It's slower and more introspective than the first few books. The rotating first-person narrative style of the series does lend itself to introspection, but this book in particular really shines when Tobias is trying to work through his thoughts.