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thecaptainsquarters
Ahoy there mateys! This be a historical fiction set in 1859 on a whaling ship bound for the Arctic Circle. The catch is that be a killer on board. This was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2016. It is well-written and atmospheric and yet I didn’t like it. The character of Drax is written to be reprehensible. The author succeeds. However there is rape of a young boy in this book and graphic descriptions of what happened to him told through examination of his corpse. It just didn’t sit with me well at all. I didn’t want that stuff in me noggin. I am not sure why this bothered me more then say [b:The Alienist|40024|The Alienist (Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, #1)|Caleb Carr|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388256626s/40024.jpg|2266643] did. But I did not enjoy this one. The ending in particular irked me. But it has a 4.00 rating on Goodreads so I seem to be in the minority for this one. It walks the plank. Arrrr!
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Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/
Ahoy there mateys! The science fiction element described in the blurb is what led me to read this one. I finished it because I wanted an answer to the posited question. However, the science fiction was a red herring. That made me angry. The ending was a complete cop-out. I wanted a YA sci-fi. Instead I got an angsty contemporary with a fake veneer of science fiction. Then ye add in the problematic elements. A kid trying to take care of his mother when she should be a parent. A brother who beats the crap out of the main character and that is considered just what brothers do. A protagonist who has to have a significant other in order to feel complete. Bullying that is inexcusable. The triggers for this one (taken from matey Melanie’s review) are: “attempted rape, sexual assault, outing, suicide, a lot of physical abuse, extreme bullying, homophobia, homophobic slurs, drug addiction, alcoholism, grief, depression, abandonment, loss of a loved one, talk of self-harm/cutting, and having a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease.” Now to be fair, Melanie’s review gives this one four stars and explains why very eloquently. This book just didn’t work for me on any level. It walks the plank!
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! READ AT YER OWN PERIL!
Ahoy there mateys! I listened to this one on audiobook and knew it would be cheesy. I mean it’s about a giant megalodon (a 34 – 59 ft. shark) that has survived in the Marina Trench and gets out and starts eating people. But I enjoyed Jaws and so thought I would give this one a whirl. The first chapter with an epic battle between a shark and a dinosaur set the tone. But the believability just got worse and worse. The protagonist, Jonas, was a Marty Stu. He gets the young hot girl at the end. The stuff about the meg was repetitive and got boring. There was a period in the middle where nothing happens. Then there is a fake ending. And the actual ending was so laughable that it just cemented this as a horrible book. SPOILER – The shark eats the submarine. Jonas gets out of the submarine, cuts through the stomach, manages to climb into the heart, stabs the meg in the heart to make it die, climbs back in the submarine, and somehow rides it out of the mouth of the dying shark. Oh and ends up in the arms of hot young student who magically happens to find him in the big, wide ocean to live happily ever after with him. This was the revised and expanded edition where the author has both a foreward and an afterward where he talks about how this book is based in science. This book was purchased by school science departments for the realism according to the author. I hope not. I hear the movie sucks too. So this one walks the plank and I hope all copies get eaten by giant hungry sharks! It does make me laugh thinking about it so there is that.
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/
Ahoy there mateys! I listened to this one on audiobook and knew it would be cheesy. I mean it’s about a giant megalodon (a 34 – 59 ft. shark) that has survived in the Marina Trench and gets out and starts eating people. But I enjoyed Jaws and so thought I would give this one a whirl. The first chapter with an epic battle between a shark and a dinosaur set the tone. But the believability just got worse and worse. The protagonist, Jonas, was a Marty Stu. He gets the young hot girl at the end. The stuff about the meg was repetitive and got boring. There was a period in the middle where nothing happens. Then there is a fake ending. And the actual ending was so laughable that it just cemented this as a horrible book. SPOILER – The shark eats the submarine. Jonas gets out of the submarine, cuts through the stomach, manages to climb into the heart, stabs the meg in the heart to make it die, climbs back in the submarine, and somehow rides it out of the mouth of the dying shark. Oh and ends up in the arms of hot young student who magically happens to find him in the big, wide ocean to live happily ever after with him. This was the revised and expanded edition where the author has both a foreward and an afterward where he talks about how this book is based in science. This book was purchased by school science departments for the realism according to the author. I hope not. I hear the movie sucks too. So this one walks the plank and I hope all copies get eaten by giant hungry sharks! It does make me laugh thinking about it so there is that.
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/
Ahoy there mateys! I believe this was on a list because of being a fantasy with a dragon. I listened to this one on audiobook. This is set some 1500 years ago with war going on between the Britons and Saxons. It follows an elderly couple, Axl and Beatrice, who are off to find their son’s village. The problem – they have lost most of their memories. In fact, most of their countrymen have no real memories either. This is just overall an odd book. The writing is haunting and beautiful. I sort of enjoyed listening to it. It kinda lulled me into a stupor. Sir Gawain of the Arthurian legend is a main character who becomes central to the events of the story. I loved both Axl and Beatrice. I loved the warrior Winstan. But the book felt like being in a fog where the events of the story never pose excitement but instead seem like a dream. When I heard the ending and woke up from me reverie, I was just confused. Maybe this be the point of the book. I am not sure. I just know that me overall feeling was one of discontent. For those who want a master storyteller’s view on this book, read Neil Gaiman’s review of it. For me it walks the plank.
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com
Ahoy there me mateys! Me first read of 2018 was a novelette called the lady astronaut of mars. I had gotten it from the library only to be surprised that it was only 19 pages! I expected it to be a full length novel. But the story was absolutely wonderful and so this year I wanted to read the two novels in the series.
So this book is an alternate history which posits the idea of what would have happened if in 1952 a major meteorite hit the Earth and was going to lead to an extinction style event on Earth. One option is to accelerate the space program to establish colonies in the stars before Earth becomes too unstable to live on.
The book follows Elma York who works with the government as a mathematician, called a computer, to help calculate the trajectory to the stars. There are lots of female computers who work in her department. Yet as these women work on the space program, they begin to wonder why they too can’t be astronauts and go into space. Elma leads the fight to get women in space while confronting both her own prejudices and those held against her.
Both of these books were fantastic and I read them back to back as they did seem more like one entire story arc. What I absolutely loved about this series was how real all of the characters felt and also how well researched it seemed to be. While Elma was fantastic, I also really loved Myrtle, Nicole, and Nathaniel as well. And while Parker was a jerk, I was surprised at how me viewpoint eventually changed about him. The juxtaposition between scientific advances and social prejudices is stark.
This was not an action-heavy book. Instead ye get a look into the day-to-day functioning of the space program and its unwilling female star. The bigger picture seems to be of humanity’s overall adaptivity despite the sometimes equally strong objection to and fear of change. I particularly enjoyed the racial aspects of these novels. Elma is dealing with the prejudice of being a woman in the 1950s male dominated sphere. Yet her interactions with the black community and especially the smart wonderful women were poignant.
I know I am not discussing the plot much but it is because this really is a book about the ideas driven by character study. And women power. I certainly consider meself a member of the Lady Astronaut fan club. Arrr!
Also check out this awesome article "Five Really Cool Things I Learned at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab” about what the author learned while researching for this book.
And also “My Favorite Bit: Mary Robinette Kowal talks about THE CALCULATING STARS” where the author talks about her favourite parts of her book that she didn’t write.
Side note: Apparently the author is writing two more books in the series. I am not sure if I will read them because I liked where book two ended. Both books have blurbs out already on Goodreads. Book three sounds good because it focuses on different characters and takes place alongside the events of book two. So maybe . . .
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/
So this book is an alternate history which posits the idea of what would have happened if in 1952 a major meteorite hit the Earth and was going to lead to an extinction style event on Earth. One option is to accelerate the space program to establish colonies in the stars before Earth becomes too unstable to live on.
The book follows Elma York who works with the government as a mathematician, called a computer, to help calculate the trajectory to the stars. There are lots of female computers who work in her department. Yet as these women work on the space program, they begin to wonder why they too can’t be astronauts and go into space. Elma leads the fight to get women in space while confronting both her own prejudices and those held against her.
Both of these books were fantastic and I read them back to back as they did seem more like one entire story arc. What I absolutely loved about this series was how real all of the characters felt and also how well researched it seemed to be. While Elma was fantastic, I also really loved Myrtle, Nicole, and Nathaniel as well. And while Parker was a jerk, I was surprised at how me viewpoint eventually changed about him. The juxtaposition between scientific advances and social prejudices is stark.
This was not an action-heavy book. Instead ye get a look into the day-to-day functioning of the space program and its unwilling female star. The bigger picture seems to be of humanity’s overall adaptivity despite the sometimes equally strong objection to and fear of change. I particularly enjoyed the racial aspects of these novels. Elma is dealing with the prejudice of being a woman in the 1950s male dominated sphere. Yet her interactions with the black community and especially the smart wonderful women were poignant.
I know I am not discussing the plot much but it is because this really is a book about the ideas driven by character study. And women power. I certainly consider meself a member of the Lady Astronaut fan club. Arrr!
Also check out this awesome article "Five Really Cool Things I Learned at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab” about what the author learned while researching for this book.
And also “My Favorite Bit: Mary Robinette Kowal talks about THE CALCULATING STARS” where the author talks about her favourite parts of her book that she didn’t write.
Side note: Apparently the author is writing two more books in the series. I am not sure if I will read them because I liked where book two ended. Both books have blurbs out already on Goodreads. Book three sounds good because it focuses on different characters and takes place alongside the events of book two. So maybe . . .
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/
Ahoy there me mateys! Me first read of 2018 was a novelette called the lady astronaut of mars. I had gotten it from the library only to be surprised that it was only 19 pages! I expected it to be a full length novel. But the story was absolutely wonderful and so this year I wanted to read the two novels in the series.
So this book is an alternate history which posits the idea of what would have happened if in 1952 a major meteorite hit the Earth and was going to lead to an extinction style event on Earth. One option is to accelerate the space program to establish colonies in the stars before Earth becomes too unstable to live on.
The book follows Elma York who works with the government as a mathematician, called a computer, to help calculate the trajectory to the stars. There are lots of female computers who work in her department. Yet as these women work on the space program, they begin to wonder why they too can’t be astronauts and go into space. Elma leads the fight to get women in space while confronting both her own prejudices and those held against her.
Both of these books were fantastic and I read them back to back as they did seem more like one entire story arc. What I absolutely loved about this series was how real all of the characters felt and also how well researched it seemed to be. While Elma was fantastic, I also really loved Myrtle, Nicole, and Nathaniel as well. And while Parker was a jerk, I was surprised at how me viewpoint eventually changed about him. The juxtaposition between scientific advances and social prejudices is stark.
This was not an action-heavy book. Instead ye get a look into the day-to-day functioning of the space program and its unwilling female star. The bigger picture seems to be of humanity’s overall adaptivity despite the sometimes equally strong objection to and fear of change. I particularly enjoyed the racial aspects of these novels. Elma is dealing with the prejudice of being a woman in the 1950s male dominated sphere. Yet her interactions with the black community and especially the smart wonderful women were poignant.
I know I am not discussing the plot much but it is because this really is a book about the ideas driven by character study. And women power. I certainly consider meself a member of the Lady Astronaut fan club. Arrr!
Also check out this awesome article "Five Really Cool Things I Learned at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab” about what the author learned while researching for this book.
And also “My Favorite Bit: Mary Robinette Kowal talks about THE CALCULATING STARS” where the author talks about her favourite parts of her book that she didn’t write.
Side note: Apparently the author is writing two more books in the series. I am not sure if I will read them because I liked where book two ended. Both books have blurbs out already on Goodreads. Book three sounds good because it focuses on different characters and takes place alongside the events of book two. So maybe . . .
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/
So this book is an alternate history which posits the idea of what would have happened if in 1952 a major meteorite hit the Earth and was going to lead to an extinction style event on Earth. One option is to accelerate the space program to establish colonies in the stars before Earth becomes too unstable to live on.
The book follows Elma York who works with the government as a mathematician, called a computer, to help calculate the trajectory to the stars. There are lots of female computers who work in her department. Yet as these women work on the space program, they begin to wonder why they too can’t be astronauts and go into space. Elma leads the fight to get women in space while confronting both her own prejudices and those held against her.
Both of these books were fantastic and I read them back to back as they did seem more like one entire story arc. What I absolutely loved about this series was how real all of the characters felt and also how well researched it seemed to be. While Elma was fantastic, I also really loved Myrtle, Nicole, and Nathaniel as well. And while Parker was a jerk, I was surprised at how me viewpoint eventually changed about him. The juxtaposition between scientific advances and social prejudices is stark.
This was not an action-heavy book. Instead ye get a look into the day-to-day functioning of the space program and its unwilling female star. The bigger picture seems to be of humanity’s overall adaptivity despite the sometimes equally strong objection to and fear of change. I particularly enjoyed the racial aspects of these novels. Elma is dealing with the prejudice of being a woman in the 1950s male dominated sphere. Yet her interactions with the black community and especially the smart wonderful women were poignant.
I know I am not discussing the plot much but it is because this really is a book about the ideas driven by character study. And women power. I certainly consider meself a member of the Lady Astronaut fan club. Arrr!
Also check out this awesome article "Five Really Cool Things I Learned at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab” about what the author learned while researching for this book.
And also “My Favorite Bit: Mary Robinette Kowal talks about THE CALCULATING STARS” where the author talks about her favourite parts of her book that she didn’t write.
Side note: Apparently the author is writing two more books in the series. I am not sure if I will read them because I liked where book two ended. Both books have blurbs out already on Goodreads. Book three sounds good because it focuses on different characters and takes place alongside the events of book two. So maybe . . .
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/