3.5/5

From the author of Holes, Fuzzy Mud offers a middle grade view of a man-made disease and how it affects a group of children.

- I like how the plot was focused on the children's points of view but each chapter had little excerpts from a later investigation. It added dimension to the story and I think would provide a talking point for children.

- Although this was originally published in 2015, reading this post pandemic gives it another edge. We're all aware of the danger of wildly contagious diseases, how scary the spread can be and the realities of quarantine.

- The interactions between the children are well done and add to their personalities as well as making them more real. This book would be great for facilitating discussions with children about bullying, family bonds, peer pressure and other common themes.

An interesting and quick book. Would be a good read for older kids who are trying to get into earth based sci-fi.

5/5

Onto my second queer romance by Casey McQuiston and I couldn't be more in love with this book. August is new to the Big Apple and one day on the train bumps into Jane. They strike up a connection. Just one hitch, Jane's stuck on the subway and has been since the 70s.

- The cast of characters are amazing. Of course there's anxiety-ridden August the protagonist and firecracker Jane aka Subway Girl. There are roommates, colleagues, drag queens, all of whom build this sprawling family of characters of all shapes, sizes and orientations.

- The romance is saucy. It starts off slow but soon builds to raunchy. I loved how well McQuiston wrote those scenes and didn't make them feel very or overdone.

- The way this book talks about the history of queer people is amazing. The struggles, the deaths, the riots, the brutality but also the love, the camaraderie, the determination to be and to take up space. It left me with a sense of pride in the community of how far we have come. 

Warm, fuzzy and filled with love. Well recommended.

4/5

In an effort to understand myself better, I have consume many books over the last year about gender. None of the Above was my latest foray and I found a very reflective, emotional and intense experience.

- Travis uses this book as both an exercise in self discovery and a reflection on how nonbinary people are placed in society. They use various phrases (one per chapter) to address different parts of their trans identity and the discussions these statements open up both internally and publicly. I liked this format as it paced the subjects well and allowed for discussion on a wide variety of topics. 

- There is a lot of uncertainty in this book and after thinking about it I believe this is a good thing. Trans and nonbinary people often feel pressure to be certain about things, to know exactly what they want and who they are. In reality I don't know a single person, cis or otherwise, who can say truthfully they 100% know exactly who they are and what they want from their existence. Life is flux and life outside the binary can be even more so. It is refreshing to that uncertainty to be acknowledged and seen as normal and okay.

- My only qualm with the book is it does become slightly repetitive as it goes on. Whilst this makes sense as there are themes that stretch throughout the book it did become slightly dull from a reader's perspective.

If you would like to read a reflection on life as a gender nonconforming person, then Alabanza's offering is a detailed and deep journey through precisely that. 

4.5/5

Audiobook narrated by Nicole Lewis and Dominic Hoffman.

"If your blood runs red, go straight ahead. If your blood runs blue, you’re not coming through. Translucent hue, who are you, who are you, who are you?"

A world divided into castes by blood colour. Red are the rulers, blue are subservient and clear are even lower. Powers are manoeuvring to challenge this status quo.

- The detail of the world building is amazing. The author has erected a world from the ground and filled it with history, culture, humanity and desires. Despite the complexity, it was so easy to sink into. The excerpts at the beginning of each chapter were especially helpful in adding dimensions to the setting and plot.

- The characters were multifaceted and complex. There is no good and bad just the shade of grey in between. Is it right to kill someone to advance a cause? To lie or withhold truth to further one's own agenda? The characters grow and change and interact beautifully and it is both wonderful and heartbreaking to see their journeys.

- The story was winding and precise and only a few times predictable. Along with the main plot there are sides of light romance, lore deep dives, world enhancing side details and other delightful additions that make The Final Strife so compelling.

If complex world building, uprising against oppression and well developed characters appeal to you, you should definitely check out this book.

4/5

Imagine if Jurassic Park but the park didn't fail and dinosaurs became regular attractions. That's the premise of Dinosaur Sanctuary. We follow a new keeper as she learns her job and about the creatures she helps care for.

- The dinosaurs are clearly the focus of the book and there is so much detail and effort that has gone into each one, from how the look and move to how they would react to health problems and the difficulties of restraining a dinosaur without hurting them. The little fact essays at the end of each chapter were also a cool little inclusion.

- I loved the backstories and plotlines for each creature and how they came to be at this Dino Park. A dilophosaurus with gout, a triceratops with a broken horn, a troodontid overheating whilst nesting. 

- The Dino's were awesome but the characters were a bit flat. I didn't really feel connected to any of them. However, this is the first volume so maybe that changes later on.

If you like dinosaurs and manga then check out Dinosaur Sanctuary.

3.5/5

A book for the dino-nerds. Paleontologist author Benton explores how the field of paleontology has changed over the last half a century and reviews some of the most interesting and prominent discoveries from this time period.

- Whilst this is written for the lay person, the book itself is quite technical and the language is at times not beginner-friendly. This does allow for more depth on the subjects covered but if you're new to reading about science, particularly geology and biology, it may be an idea to have a dictionary or Google to hand to look-up words. Having read several other books on the subject, this is not the first book I would recommend to someone starting out.

- Some of the topics discussed really did make me smile. I particularly enjoyed the sections covering the evolution of birds and the science behind determining what colours some dinosaurs are. The format of the chapters is an over 
-arching theme, such as dinosaur DNA, then broken down into smaller chunks by answering a flow of smaller questions linked to the chapter topic. This format works well and has good flow.

- How science works is very much at the heart of this book. From initial explanations of science from history (complete with Rutherford quotation) to the evolution of hypothesis and evidence based science, The Dinosaurs Rediscovered makes it very clear that these discoveries are what we know now and that in the future evidence may come to light that may disprove some of these hypotheses and theories. The clarity in which the author explains this is beautiful.

An interesting book that would interest those with an interest in the dinosaurs and how our knowledge of them has changed over time. 

4.5/5

A disturbing and beautiful graphic novel Snow White retelling from the point of view of the Wicked Queen. 

- The story was so different yet disturbingly similar to the source material. I enjoyed how the author and artist both crafted the story and the images brought it to vivid life.

- The artwork is simply gorgeous. The style is a perfect fit for the story and the use of detail and colour is extraordinary.

- My only qualm with this book is that there are some questions left unanswered that feel like they should have been part of the story. This is also very definitely intended for adults as there are lots of explicit and horror elements.

A gorgeous, captivating and horrifying graphic novel which I would recommend for fans of alternative fairy tales and beautiful illustrations.

4.25/5 

Imagine an alternate 1950s where a meteorite has hit and destroyed Washington DC and triggered the beginning of an exinction event. Now humanity has to not only figure out how to get to space but also how to leave and colonise other moons and planets before Earth becomes uninhabitable. This is the premise of The Calculating Stars. We follow mathematician and former WASP Elma, her journey as a computer for the space agency and her part in the journey for the space race. 

- The setting and the characters were wonderfully done and diffculties are portrayed so acutely. How does a person and society deal with the knowledge that they have lost family to an unpredictable disaster? What sort of grief processes would these people go through? My personal favourite is how the narative handles Elma's anxiety and the realism of conflict over wanting to power through but knowing that you need help. 

- Despite the fictional premise, a significant portion of the events within the story are based on true events. There's mentions of launch accidents, racist/misogynistic policies based on pure prejudice, historical people woven into charcters. There's an afterword at the end of the book detailing these and how the author used history brilliantly to inform fiction. 

- The book is sometimes very technical and whilst I appreciate that i the nature of science fiction, some of it felt a bit superfluous. I found myself skimming over parts where the technical jargon dominated, wanting to return to the story. 

Both a thought-provoking science fiction novel and a critical but positive look at the history of space exploration. For anyone who enjoys good representation, space race stories or finding out more about the hidden people behind our history. 

4.5/5

Bought with the desire to fill my Legends & Lattes shaped void, Can't Spell Treason Without Tea continues my delve into cosy fantasy. Reyna, guard to a queen, and Kianthe, the most powerful mage in the land, run away together and set up a book and tea shop in a rural town.

- The protagonists of the book were well sculpted and I loved them both from early in the book. Their already established relationship was lovely to read about and I particularly enjoyed their dynamic of clear communication which is rare to find in romance.

- The setting is beautiful: Tawney is a northern town full of fun characters that make it feel so homely. Between the tea/bookshop, the midwife Matild and her blacksmith husband, the rogue teenager adopted by the main characters and the duo of fighting town leaders it feels like the reader is sitting with a cup of tea and listening to all this occur around them.

- The rep in this is great with a major side character using they/them pronouns, the obvious sapphic representation and the explanations of how gender norms and customs vary across the land. 

A wonderful cosy fantasy, perfect for anyone looking for a suitable book after Legends & Lattes or just wanting some relaxed, low stakes reading.

5/5

Audiobook narrated by Adam Sims.

A friend asked me when I finished if this book was good. I have no idea how to answer that. "Good" is far too simplistic for what this book achieves. Charlie Gordon, who has an IQ of about 70, undergoes an experimental procedure to increase his intelligence. The reader follows what happens through Charlie's own progress reports.

- I read this book mostly via audiobook but with a physical copy around and to read along with. The audiobook is fantastic but I feel the real impact of the book is better handled in the written version. It is not just the content of Charlie's reports that so accurately shows his progress but also HOW they are written. Charlie goes from simple words, misspellings, poor grammar to hyperliterate with a superfluous vocabulary.  The impact of that formatting is utterly perfect.

- There's so much food for thought in this book. it deals with ethics, consent, both individual and societal opinions, childhood experiences and existentialism. We see the good and the bad of humanity and the complex grey areas in between and the reader comes away with such conflict about it all.

- This is a book that I feel everyone should read. Not study in school to make it boring and dusty but to pick up and read at some point within their lives. It is a book that most definitely causes some introspection.

Powerful, important and hard at times but a fantastic sci-fi book. Read it.