Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Title: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy #2)

Author: Douglas Adams

Genre: Science Fiction, Humor

Published: November 1995 (first published 1980)

The second book started with the two humans, the ex-president of the galaxy, an android and the hitchhiker facing certain annihilation and the story just snowballed from there.

I feel the need to say the first book was better, but did enjoy this one enough to continue reading the series. My biggest hang up I think was spending so much time with Zaphod Beeblebrox. Other than Marvin and his depressing diatribes the other characters didn’t actually have a lot to do within the story. I believe most of the scenes with them they were almost forgettable.

The book still had the humor and the situations the characters found themselves in were somewhat off the wall. I did enjoy the man who ruled the universe. I could see how someone like him would be a good choice. Even if he was aware of who he really was it wouldn’t change his actions or how he perceived things. It was also fun having Zaphod encounter someone so far outside his actual experience.

I look forward to the third book. Overall I gave this book 4 stars out of 5.

Title: Rebel (Reboot #2)

Author: Amy Tintera

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction

Published: May 13, 2014

This book starts exactly where book one left off. Wren, Callum and the other Reboots joined other Reboots on a reservation. They were wanting to start a new life and were faced with the reality of an impending war with those they just left.

I found the story a little slow at the beginning. Once Wren left the reservation for the last time the story really picked up. The second half of the book went by very fast.

What I found most interesting was the concept of prejudice throughout the story. It wasn't the focus and there was no soap box. Most of the focus was the action, the story was about Wren and Callum and where they were going. Despite the diminished population as we spent time in their world we were unable to avoid the contention between the humans and the reboots. One of the things that made it even more interesting was the line between the two was incredibly thin. I just liked how it was there and a constant, but our noses weren't rubbed in the concept.

Overall I gave this book 4 stars out of 5.

Title: Allegiant (Divergent #3)

Author: Veronica Roth

Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult

Published: October 22, 2013

My biggest hang up while reading this book was having around ninety percent of it involving lying. Everyone was lying to someone and there was always someone else who knew it. I could not imagine living in a world where I should assume I was being lied to and I am pretty sure I would find it exhausting to try and figure out what was actually true in any given situation. The characters treated the lies as if they were a given. It made my skin itch.

I did think the back story behind what was really going on was interesting. I was intrigued by the idea of the mythology behind why Chicago had ended up the way it was when the first book started.

I was pleasantly surprised by the ending. At one point I really expected things to not really be resolved. I was worried and trying to brace myself for the urge to throw my book against a wall, which I really try not to do any more.

Overall I gave this book 4 stars out of 5.

Title: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy #1)

Author: Douglas Adams

Genre: Science Fiction

Published: October 1979

As the earth was destroyed Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent hitched a ride with one of the spaceships. They end up bouncing around from there.

My favorite character was the computer Eddie. I thought it was entertaining the characters would ask Eddie a question then tell it to shut up. I enjoyed the random whimsy throughout the entire story. I found myself wondering on more than one occasion where the story was going. I do plan on reading the second book because I am curious what is going to happen with these people.

Overall I gave this book 4 stars out of 5.

Title: Virals (Virals #1)

Author: Kathy Reichs, Brendan Reichs

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Mystery

Published: November 2, 2010

While trying to figure out who owned a fossilized dog tag Tory and her friends rescued a wolfdog from medical testing. As a result they ended up with heightened senses and reflexes.

I was pleasantly surprised when the main character was essentially the character I was expecting Tempe to be when I started reading the Temperance Brennan books. She made a lot less obviously stupid mistakes, which I was grateful for.

The science behind the group's transformation was interesting. It was thought out and explained in more depth than this type of story usually goes into. I would have liked to get more character depth with the rest of the group. They had a couple of defining traits, but mostly they were the three guys who spent time with Tory.

Overall I gave this book 4 stars out of 5.

Title: Four: A Divergent Story Collection (Divergent 0.1-0.4)

Author: Veronica Roth

Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult

Published: July 8, 2014

This is a tie in to the first book in the Divergent series.

I liked how the stories were not a rehash of what had happened in Divergent. I enjoyed Four's voice and the learning the reasons behind his actions. I liked how we learned why Four and Eric really didn't like each other.

I disliked how we didn't really get anything new from the story. Essentially all the information contained in these stories was the same as the information we gained in Divergent.

Overall I gave this book 4 stars out of 5 because it was an enjoyable read.

Title: William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope (William Shakespeare's Star Wars #1)

Author: Ian Doescher

Genre: Play, Science Fiction, TV/Movies

Published: July 2, 2013

This book was Star Wars told in iambic pentameter.

I am pretty sure I would have enjoyed this book less if I had not seen and enjoyed the movie. Despite the chorus' directions the action was often vague. I also had a problem with many of the asides the different characters would do. I wasn't sure they were always within the established personality. My favorite person in the movies was R2 D2, but if my opinion was completely formed from this version I would have thought he was a snot and would have not liked him at all mainly from his comments to himself.

I did have fun when Leia and Han's interactions sounded a lot like Beatrice and Benedict's. Much Ado About Nothing is my favorite Shakespeare. I had never made the correlation between the four characters before even though in this context it was obvious. I believe this connection is why I liked this version as much as I did.

Overall I gave this book 3 stars out of 5.

Title: Yesterday (Yesterday #1)

Author: C.K. Kelly Martin

Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult

Published: September 25, 2012

In 2063 unemployment was rampant, the environment was shot, and bio-terrorism was a real thing. Freya had her memory wiped, new memories were implanted  and she was sent back in time to 1985. Then her old memories began slipping through especially after she saw a boy from her past named Garren.

I thought the problems in the future were well thought out. They cascaded from one thing to another until there was no good solution to what was happening. The beginning point was not necessarily something which was easily fixed, this made it more believable because it wasn't something the people in charge could easily remedy by going back in time. I did get a little stuck on the time travel method. The author had come up with robots that did all the domestic jobs, cures for all the major diseases, the psychological problems concerning schools completely online, but she could come up with a more believable method of time travel?

My main hangup in the story was when Garren and Freya first went into hiding they ended up robbing a house and became squatters for a little while. Putting aside the criminal and moral negatives the thought seemed a little creepy to me.

I felt as if the author thought, "What were the big pop culture aspects of the 80's and how many of them can I fit into one story?" At one point I questioned out loud the lack of Madonna in the story, about thirty pages later she was mentioned. I felt a little vindicated.

I am honestly saying the story wasn't bad and it was engaging at least for the most part. I am not sure I care about any of these people enough to read the second book to find out what happened to them though.

Overall I gave this book 3 stars out of 5.

Review: ARV-3

Title: ARV-3 (The After Light Saga #1)

Author: Cameo Renae

Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult

Published: November 26, 2013

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

After all the nuclear power plants melted down all life on the surface had changed because of the nuclear fallout. A few thousand managed to take shelter underground. Abi along with fourteen others took shelter in an underground bunker. Thirteen years later they went up top to try and make it to a government facility and safety. Once above ground they encountered what was left of humanity, zombie like creatures, known as arvies, who still had intelligence.

I thought the concept behind this book was fantastic and really interesting. I was willing to suspend my level of disbelief at least to a point. Then I got past the prologue. Abi introduced us to the bunker, all ten levels. She went through what each levels purpose was. She started with level one and then moved onto two and so on. Then when we reached level ten she moved onto the fifteen people who lived there. She listed them, their names, personality traits, main job within the bunker and so on. The only way I would have been able to remember everything was if I was to make a chart. I might have had a better chance if the author had introduced the characters or the different levels in a natural setting. One example might have been Abi going to level five for lunch and her grandmother happened to make it for her. That would have made it a lot easier to remember and the story would have flowed more naturally. Another thing I wasn't sure about, why spend so much time and energy explaining the different levels of the bunker when after the first part of the book the characters abandoned the shelter? They weren't going back, but still we needed to know what was on level ten.

I understand Abi really didn't have a lot of choice for a romantic partner, but when she started going on and on about the physical attractiveness behind the hotty known as Finn I thought okay just get together already. The relationship was drawn out and still they managed to not actually have a romance for an amazingly long time.

At certain points I wondered why they went into battle. They could have easily avoided the arvies, saved ammunition and avoided potential bodily damage. Of course that would have made far to much sense. Lets go into this building, oh no there is noise from levels above the characters. Instead of leaving and trying another building it made much more sense to keep going up and fight unknown numbers of potential killers. Yep made sense to me.

Overall I gave this book 2 stars out of 5.

Review: Burn Out

Title: Burn Out (Burn Out #1)

Author: Kristi Halvig

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction

Published: April 8, 2014

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Okay first things are first, what is up with the recent fashion of books that do not end? I am sorry to say I am stepping on the soap box with this book, but it is one in a long line of books where nothing is resolved. I know there is going to be a second book, but I am not sure I would want to read it because I have learned with the first one the last page is just a book mark placing me on hold until I manage to pick up the next one. It feels manipulative and it is annoying. Now onto the actual book.
Earth had become a wasteland where the sun scourged almost everything it touched. Humanity was forced to look for a new home and a few were left behind to fend for themselves. Tora was one person left behind, but she was left with something the rulers of the new world wanted so they went back to get it.

I was impressed with the concept of this book. The set up of environment and world building were well done. It was mostly the characters that fell flat. I had no real emotional connection with them. I think if we had more background on the secondary characters or at least had an understanding of their actual motivations I might have been able to relate to them more, but some of it was hinted at we even circled around the topic a couple of times and then nothing.

I did get a little stuck on the technological advancements. The government has managed to create machines that suck water out of the air. They have created ships that easily travel from one planet to the next. They have domes that protect them from UV radiation and sun suits are common. My problem came with the main objective of the book being the technology of advanced guns. Yes they were pretty cool guns, but still her father was the only one developing them? In a society where the humans were dwindling and there was no big threat even hinted at on the new planet why were guns that could blow up a ship really that important and that uncommon?

I spent the entire book trying to decide if I liked any of the characters and weirdly enough that was actually part of the charm to the story. I thought it would have been interesting if the psychological impact Tora would have faced from spending as much time alone as she did had been addressed. Tora had two plans: A) to get off earth or B) to kill herself. She became so whiny in the middle and she began to rehash the same ground over and over about how she didn't trust anyone, you wouldn't know it by her actions, I began to wish she would just go with plan b just to get it over with.

Overall I gave this book 3 stars out of 5.

Review: The Vault of Dreamers

Title: The Vault of Dreamers (Untitled #1)

Author: Caragh M. O'Brien

Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult

Published: September 16, 2014

I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Forge School was a reality television show for students who excelled in art. For three years the students would spend their lives on camera for an education and fame.

My first reaction to this book was What? I am not sure what actually happened there. The first one hundred pages were absolutely fantastic. The rest of the book went a little off the rails especially the last couple of chapters. The motivation of the "bad guy"  felt fluid and a little undefined. There was no real resolution to the problems posed within the story. I think I would be interested in reading the second book just to find out what was up with that ending.

The characters were engaging. I wanted to know what was going to happen to them and I was rooting for Burnham. I was also grateful the potential love triangle didn't actually happen.  I would have liked to spend more time with Burnham, Janice and Linus. I would have liked to get to know them better, deeper, than we did. Most of what we learned was on the surface.

Overall I gave this book 3 stars out of 5.

Review: The Fourteenth Goldfish

Title: The Fourteenth Goldfish

Author: Jennifer L. Holm

Genre: Children, Science Fiction

Published: August 26, 2014

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When her grandfather shows up at her house looking like a fourteen year old it was just the beginning of the changes within Ellie's life.

The story was a fun read with a good moral. I was impressed with Ellie's character growth. At the beginning she didn't know anything about science, but throughout the story she learned and even became comfortable enough to confront her grandfather, a notable scientist, when she believed he was in the wrong.

There were times where the character's felt a little older than they actually were. Despite that I really enjoyed all the characters except the grandfather, Melvin. He had nothing positive to say about Ellie's mother the entire book. I don't care he didn't agree with his child's life choices, what he found most objectionable was that she had become a high school drama teacher, but really he should have found somethings he liked about her to say in front of her daughter. Sorry, personal soap box.

Overall I gave this book 4 stars out of 5.

Review: The Artful

Title: The Artful (Shadows of the City #1)

Author: Wilbert Stanton

Genre: Young Adult, Sci-Fi

Published: May 27, 2014

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Set in the future where a virus killed a good portion of New York and made it painful to go into the sun Dodge and Twist would steal medicine from those in power to give it to those in need. They did it for the fame.

The first fifty pages I had the song "Consider Yourself" from the musical Oliver Twist stuck in my head. Eventually I got over that.

Dodge was a sexist and didn't have charm or humor to counteract it. Any time a female crossed his path all he would talk about was sex. Twist was a follower who spent the book trying to prove he wasn't while gut reacting to events.

I found the end frustrating. After everything the characters had gone through nothing was actually accomplished. There wasn't even any character growth. In fact all the characters were worse off than they had been at the beginning of the story.

Overall I gave this book 2 stars out of 5.

Review: Intervention

Title: Intervention

Author: W.R.R. Munro

Genre: Science Fiction

Published: May 8, 2012

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Set in 2033 there was a problem with bees not pollinating. A group of scientists were gathered to figure out why. The story snowballed into different directions from there.

There are certain things which are difficult to write. In this book the author attempted two of them. At the beginning of the book it talked a lot about global warming and how bees were unable to do the work they were supposed to be doing. After a few pages I became worried he was going to get onto an environmental soap box. Fortunately that did not actually happen.

Writing a character who was supposed to be brilliant was the other thing he attempted. The main character, Ayden, was supposed to be one of the smartest people on the planet. This point had been made more than once. He was also supposed to be able to make more connections between things than the average person. That was his actual job. Due to this information I was unable to understand why he made some of the mistakes he made throughout the book. I also didn't understand why it took him as long as it did to figure out the plot behind what he was trying to fix.

The characters were flat. It took multiple meetings for each character before I was able to keep who they were within the story. Even the dramatic moments were a few steps short of glossy. Honestly it made most of the book boring.

The feature I liked best about this book was the plausibility. I could see most of the future problems put forth actually happening. Maybe not as over the top, but I could see the viruses, the hunger issues, and the global warming.

Overall I gave this book 2 stars out of 5.

Review: Expiration Day

Title: Expiration Day

Author: William Campbell Powell

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction

Published: April 22, 2014

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is set in the not too distant future where the birthrate had dropped considerably. To compensate a company called Oxted created androids for couples to lease for a period of 18 years so they could be raised as if they were real children.

The story was told in a diary format and focused a lot about the lack of children being born. It felt as if the author was trying to write a teenage retelling of Margaret Attwood's The Handmaid's Tale and I am sorry to say it wasn't done as well.

I found the main character, Tania, difficult to relate to. For the first third of the book she didn't sound authentic. The story did get better once she began debating the concept of humanity. What makes a human? At one point she became interested in music and literature. I did think the choice of fictional character she related was interesting.

I would have liked to learn more about why the fertility rate had gone so low. There was an ambiguous possible reason given, but nothing ever concrete. In end it was chalked up to needing more research.

Overall I gave this book 2 stars out of 5.

Review: The Word Exchange

Title: The Word Exchange

Author: Alena Graedon

Genre: Science Fiction

Published: April 8, 2014

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is supposed to take place in the not to distant future with the handheld Memes (high tech cell phones) making decisions for you so you don't need to work so hard. One program in the Memes was the word exchange. If you couldn't come up with a word it would replace it with another word. This led to the "word flu". Anana's father, Doug, disappeared one day. Doug was anti-Meme. Anana and a co-worker Bart tried to find him along with figuring out what was happening with the word flu.

I must say up front I did not actually finish this book. I tried I really did, but reading this book felt like I was wading through a pond of mud. I could see the other side, but no matter how much I tried I was unable to get there.

It was to verbose. Honestly the author would you ten large words to describe something when one three letter word would have worked just as well. The main character Anana's voice did not sound authentic. She was an artist working for her father as an assistant. Words were not her chosen field, but her voice sounded similar to Bart's. It did not feel authentic and made it harder stay in the story.

Characters kept warning Anana to not do something, then as soon as she was alone that would be the first thing she would do. In a couple of instances she didn't even wait to be alone. I kept wondering if she didn't remember the consequences from the last time she didn't take other character's advice or was she really that stupid?

There was a lot happening within the story. What were they really trying to accomplish? Were they trying to find her father? Stop the word flu? Was it just a story so Anana could obsess over her ex-boyfriend? or was it a story so Bart could obsess about how perfect he thought Anana was?

Since I did not finish the book I am not going to rate it.

Review: The Here and Now

Title: The Here and Now

Author: Ann Brashares

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction

Published: April 8, 2014

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Prenna had traveled to our time with her community back eighty years to escape the plagues in her time. The community had rules to protect themselves and to protect those called time natives, people from our time. One of the rules forbid them from becoming intimate with a time native. Prenna fell in love with Ethan the first boy she saw after making the trip.

I think time travel is one of those concepts in literature that is very hard to do convincingly while also having things turn out well for the characters. This book did a better job than most of the others I have read, but then again not everything ended in a completely happy manner.

I would have liked to have gotten to know Ethan better. A couple of times his future from Prenna's perspective was hinted at. I would have liked to know what happened to him after the story ended. Did he still go into the same field of science? Did he stay with Prenna or move on and get together with someone else? There is no hint of a second book at this time, so I don't know if I will ever find out. With the way things ended I think I would be disappointed with a second book. The author would either need to contradict herself, back track on the premise she set up or change one of the main characters.

Overall I gave this book 4 stars out 5.

 

 
Title: Insurgent (Divergent #2)

Author: Veronica Roth

Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult

Published: May 1, 2012

This book picked up where Divergent left off.

I have noticed recently a lot of the books I have been reading I have been paying attention to the psychological aspect of what happened to the characters. Most of the story dealt with the aftermath from things Tris had experienced in Divergent. Despite Tris being a little broody every once in a while I thought it was well handled. I liked how Tris who had been raised in a sheltered environment had a difficult time dealing with the violence from the first book.

It was interesting how Tris felt she was learning lessons from each faction. I thought that was a good point, but then I began tho wonder about the world which had been built in the story. How could the characters who were not divergent not understand the need to learn from each other? How did they not realize they needed each other? Then I got stuck on the idea that a person is not all one thing.
They may have one focus, but a person is more complex than that. That being said the book was fast paced and enjoyable to read.

I gave it 4 stars out of 5.

Title: Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1)

Author: Tahereh Mafi

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction

Published: November 15, 2011

While Juliette was locked up because her touch was fatal the world fell apart. The Reestablishment was supposedly the answer to all the worlds problems.

I started reading this book without reading the synopsis. I wasn't wild about the look of the cover, but it kept coming up on recommended lists because of other books I had read. When I saw it at the library I just added it to my pile. I really had no expectations going in. I think that might have helped.

The first hundred or so pages really appealed to me. I thought the internal question of sanity Juliette kept asking herself was interesting. The fact that she had spent most of a year in isolation and had only herself to converse with, would have made the issue of insanity a very real possibility. Then she got a roommate. Her reactions to him both internal and external were interesting along with his reactions to her.

Then there was a shift of location, which lead to a shift of focus for the story. It wasn't nearly as interesting.

The author built a world and made it possible. Then a character came along and said it was all a lie. Then another character came along and said the first character was wrong and the world was how Juliette believed it to be. The plot would see-saw back and forth. There was no real explanation why Juliette would trust one character or distrust another. Her trust in the person seemed random and felt as if it correlated with whatever emotion she was having at that point in the book.

I gave the first of the book 5 stars. I gave the rest of the book between 2 or 3 stars. Overall I think I am going to give the entire book 3 stars.

Title: All Our Yesterdays (All Our Yesterdays #1)

Author: Cristin Terrill

Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult

Published: September 3, 2013

This was a time travel story and what happens in the present and the future to three people, Marina, Finn and James.

I kept thinking I should be more bothered by the solution to the conflict which was given at the start of the story. I am a little bugged that I was not really that bothered.

My biggest problem came from the characters when they had flashes of memory. There was little indication when the memory was over. The paragraph would just continue and you were supposed to see that the memory had finished. A couple of times I did get confused. After a while I got used to it and it didn't throw me for as much of a loop. There were some stories hinted at without any real expansion. One was a characters death in the future, but there was no detail of why and little detail of how.

I did not like Marina. She was a snob and a snot for a good portion of the book. James had little depth in either time. He let his grief warp him until he had become a monster, but that was his most defining character trait. I really liked Finn, he was a good guy in both times and his experiences didn't change that. Em's personality shift was well done. Her experiences affected her and the damage was plain to see without being overbearing.

The science and paradox were both addressed and realistically enough not to be distracting from where the author was taking the reader.

The resolution made the rest of the story worthwhile. I enjoyed Em's actions and reactions. It showed that despite the problems Em had faced her character was not completely different from when she had been Marina.

Overall I gave this book 4 stars out of 5.