August Book Haul

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I kinda have a little bit of a problem. No matter how hard I try, I can never buy just one book. Even if I go onto a website thinking "I'm only buying the book I came here for", I can't do it. One book becomes two, which then becomes at least four. With that being said. I went a little crazy last week and bought a bunch of books. Now, much like a dragon, I want to pour over my haul and excitedly try to decide what I should read.

The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan || Genre: Fantasy || Amazon / Bookshop

Blurb: The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

Winter has stopped the war--almost--yet men are dying, calling out for the Dragon. But where is he? In the Heart of the Stone lies the next great test of the Dragon reborn.

Why I Want to Read It: I'm making my way through the Wheel of Time series, so it only makes sense that I bought the third book after I finished the second one. I'm excited to see where this story goes.

Batman The City of Owls by Scott Snyder || Genre: Comics || Amazon // Bookshop

Blurb: For over a century, the Court of Owls has ruled Gotham City in secret—their reach inescapable, their power unstoppable.

Until they battled the Batman.

Gotham's vigilante protector managed to escape the talons of the Court with his mind and body barely intact. The Dark Knight managed to win the battle with his deadly new aggressors, but certainly not the war. Batman was just the first part of their conquest. Now they have their sights set on something much bigger: Gotham City.


Why I Want to Read It: Let's be honest. Who couldn't use more Batman in their life?

The Shadows by Alex North || Genre: Thriller || Amazon // Bookshop

Blurb: You knew a teenager like Charlie Crabtree. A dark imagination, a sinister smile--always on the outside of the group. Some part of you suspected he might be capable of doing something awful. Twenty-five years ago, Crabtree did just that, committing a murder so shocking that it’s attracted that strange kind of infamy that only exists on the darkest corners of the internet--and inspired more than one copycat.

Paul Adams remembers the case all too well: Crabtree--and his victim--were Paul’s friends. Paul has slowly put his life back together. But now his mother, old and senile, has taken a turn for the worse. Though every inch of him resists, it is time to come home.

It's not long before things start to go wrong. Reading the news, Paul learns another copycat has struck. His mother is distressed, insistent that there's something in the house. And someone is following him. Which reminds him of the most unsettling thing about that awful day twenty-five years ago.

It wasn't just the murder.

It was the fact that afterward, Charlie Crabtree was never seen again...

Why I Want to Read It: I've been trying to get more into thrillers. A friend of mine who loves thrillers really recommended this author and I thought I might as well give his work a try.

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan || Genre: Fantasy || Amazon // Bookshop

Blurb: Each year, eight beautiful girls are chosen as Paper Girls to serve the king. It's the highest honor they could hope for...and the most demeaning. This year, there's a ninth. And instead of paper, she's made of fire.

In this richly developed fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most persecuted class of people in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards for an unknown fate still haunts her. Now, the guards are back and this time it's Lei they're after -- the girl with the golden eyes whose rumored beauty has piqued the king's interest.

Over weeks of training in the opulent but oppressive palace, Lei and eight other girls learns the skills and charm that befit a king's consort. There, she does the unthinkable -- she falls in love. Her forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens her world's entire way of life. Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide how far she's willing to go for justice and revenge.


Why I Want to Read It: First of all, the cover is beautiful. Second, the blurb has me hooked and I want to know more.

Endless Apocalypse Short Stories || Genre: Science Fiction || Amazon // Bookshop

Blurb: Stories of the end of civilized life have always fascinated us, from the mythological world endings, Armageddon to Ragnorok, to the flood stories of across the Ancient world. They make us wonder what we would do if all around us came to an end: no transport, no fuel, no communications: a retreat into the desperation, the onslaught of disease, how would we survive?

Why I Want to Read It: This might be weird, but I like stories about the end of the world. Reading different authors' takes on the end of the world, and what might come after, has always appealed to me.

T-Rex Trying by Hugh Murphy || Genre: Humor || Amazon // Bookshop

Blurb: Poor T-Rex. It’s hard to be the Lizard King when you can’t even change a light bulb.

Drawn from Hugh Murphy’s wildly popular Tumblr feed of the same name, T-Rex Trying depicts the stubby-armed tyrant in a range of hilarious—yet pathos-inducing—activities that we humans take for granted.


Why I Want to Read It: This just looks cute and funny. Sometimes, I need a break from serious, hard-hitting things.

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks || Genre: Fantasy || Amazon // Bookshop

Blurb: Gavin Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. But Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live: Five years to achieve five impossible goals.

But when Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he's willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.


Why I Want to Read It: The Lightbringer series has been on my list for a while. When I saw that it was on sale, I took that as a sign that I should buy it now and start reading the series.

A Girl Called Ari by P.J. Sky || Genre: Science Fiction || Amazon

Blurb: In a distant future… A world divided… A walled city in a devastated wasteland…

For Starla, a struggle for power becomes a struggle to survive when she finds herself on the wrong side of the wall. Lost in the wasteland, she faces warring factions, bloodthirsty creatures, and the endless burning sun. And then there’s Ari… who is she really? And can she trust this girl from the wasteland to lead her back to the city gates?

One thing’s for sure, Starla’s once privileged life will never be the same.


Why I Want to Read It: The premise sounds interesting. I've also been trying to read more science fiction recently and this book called to me for some reason.

The Orphanage of Gods by Helena Coggan || Genre: Fantasy || Amazon // Bookshop

Blurb: Twenty years ago, the humans came for their gods.

In the bloody revolution, gods were all but wiped out. Ever since, the children they left behind have been imprisoned in an orphanage, watched day and night by the ruthless Guard. Any who show signs of divine power vanish from their beds in the night, all knowledge of their existence denied.

No one has ever escaped the orphanage.

Until now.

Seventeen-year-old Hero is finally free - but at a terrible price. Her sister has been captured by the Guard and is being held in a prison in the northern sea. Hero desperately wants to get her back, and to escape the murderous Guardsmen hunting her down. But not all the gods are dead, and the ones waiting for Hero in the north have their own plans for her - ones that will change the world forever...

As she advances further and further into the unknown, Hero will need to decide: how far is she willing to go to do what needs to be done?

Why I Want to Read It: It's hard to beat a premise like "humans have deposed the gods". Adding in the other aspects of the plot shown in the blurb, I just couldn't resist.

Have you read any of these books? Would you recommend them? Are there any books you recently purchased that you'd recommend?

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Heart of Fire

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Heart of Fire is a 2020 young adult science fiction novel by Jessica Roe. It was self-published by the author and released in March 2020. The novel can be purchased from Amazon here.

The novel takes place in a post-apocalyptic world and follows a teenager named Talin. A year prior to the start of the novel, aliens, the Jhenn, invaded Earth and killed two thirds of the population. The day of the invasion Talin developed a strange power that makes her a threat to the hostile force. After she and her friend Nat are attacked, Talin is taken by the resistance and offered the chance to fight. While facing new enemies and meeting new allies, Talin begins to learn new things about herself, her heart and her powers which may change the course of the war.

Talin is the main character of the story. While I liked her character overall, because she was feisty, she asked a lot of questions and didn't let people walked all over her, sometimes, she could be a bit too much. There were a few scenes where comments she made were supposed to be funny, but they didn't really work and I found it more annoying than anything else. While she got on my nerves at times, I enjoyed her overall journey as she joined the resistance and learned how to become a warrior. Nat, Talin's best friend, can be described almost in the exact same way as Talin can. She's a little less confrontational and their strong friendship helped bring a sense of realism to the story, but there's not a lot I can really say about Nat. Upon being taken by the resistance, Talin meets both David and Makail. David is a human soldier who becomes a friend of Talin's, while Makail is a member of the Vorstoffen, an alien race from the same planet as the Jhenn who are helping the humans mount a resistance. Makail begins as Talin's trainer as she learns to use and control her powers and is rather cold and no-nonsense when first introduced. This novel doesn't have a "main" antagonist, as the Jhenn collectively are the enemy, but the closest thing to a "bad guy" seen in this book is the Jhenn Uren who attacks Talin early in the story and shows up again at the climax.

One thing that I enjoyed about this book is that it's not mainly about the war against the Jhenn. The war is an underecurrent with all of the events that are taking place, but it's not the main focus of the story. The focus is instead on Talin, her learning to control her powers and life within the resistance. Some of this is done to develop the romance in the story, but it was refreshing to read a book about an alien invasion that focused less on the battles themselves. I also appreciated this because the reader got to see Talin fail. She had to struggle, she had to learn and adapt. I don't like books where a character learns how to sword-fight in three pages or masters a power in a single chapter. The character dynamics that develop between Talin and some less-than-friendly members of the resistance are also great. The fact that there were a number of people who didn't fully trust Talin because of her powers, who didn't like her, while still being on the same side as her was unexpected and I liked it. I also enjoyed the fact that, while the Jhenn are the main antagonists, they weren't working alone. Other humans were helping them. A lot of alien invasion stories don't show humanity itself being divided about the invaders. Last, but not least, Talin's powers were unique. Some Vorstoffen characters had abilities that were a little more standard for science fiction or fantasy, but her powers and the way they were displayed  were used creatively in the story.

This novel is very character-driven, and as a result, there isn't a lot of plot taking place. I liked see characters grow closer and improve as people, but as a result, the pacing is a bit weird. Like many character-driven stories, there is a fast-paced beginning, a slow middle and a fast-paced end. While this isn't my favorite type of pacing, it worked for this story. A big part of this story is the romance, and budding love triangle between Talin, David and Makail. I don't really like love triangles, however it doesn't actually become a love triangle because one character realizes the relationship wouldn't work. If this becomes a series, I hope it stays that way. I also felt like the romance itself was kind of predictable. I'm not mad about it, but it felt worth mentioning. My final and my biggest issue with this book has to do with the climax. This novel does discuss and depict torture, but it's not unnecessarily graphic. My problem is that the physical torture turns into threats of sexual assault and I have a problem when sexual assault is made into a plot device. It makes me very uncomfortable and as a result, I lost some of the enjoyment I had while reading.

 Heart of Fire is a pretty good book. It's a quick read with a lot of good character moments and a unique story to tell. The journey that the characters go on over the course of the story is both engaging and at time exciting. It's a great character-driven science fiction story. The romance wasn't to my taste, but I'm not a romance person. I struggled with the pacing and a few tropes/plot devices used in the climax. On the whole, however, Id' recommend the book to young sci-fi fans. I hope this author continues the series, as there's clearly a lot more story to tell.

Rating: 3.3 Stars

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Before The Broken Star

Before the Broken Star is a 2019 young adult science fiction novel by Emily R. King. The novel was published by Skyscape and is the first book in The Evermore Chronicles. The novel is a fusion of steampunk and fantasy.

Before the Broken Star follows Everley Donovan, the sole survivor of her family's slaughter. She's been living on borrowed time due to a clockwork heart and seeks to avenge her family by killing Killian Markham, her family's murderer, before her time runs out. Her quest for vengeance leads her to a penal colony on the far side of the world. On the island, family secrets are buried and Everley finds her destiny is entangled with Markham's redemption, as the man may not be who he seems.

This book was somewhat of a mixed bag for me. I love a good revenge story and the ideas mentioned in the blurb were intriguing. This book references folk lore and in-universe myths frequently, and I enjoyed reading those myths and stories. There's an idea of there being seven distinct worlds and reading the snippets about each world was interesting to me. The science enthusiast in me enjoyed the steampunk parts of the story, mainly focused on Everley's artificial heart. I enjoyed piecing together the truth about what happened to Everley's family.  Descriptions of the environment really captured my imagination and I liked reading about the land and wonder of the island Everley wound up on. The action scenes were also somewhat enjoyable. King created a very interesting "hook" for the second novel in the series.

While I enjoyed the aspects mentioned above, if I were to make a pro-con list about this novel, there would be more cons than pros. The characterization is fairly inconsistent. This applies to everyone from Everley herself, to Jamison, the man she's forced to marry, to Markham, the villain of the story. People's behaviors and motives seemed to change at the drop of a hat.  None of the characters are relatable or easy for the reader to connect with. Very little in the story surprised me, because it's hard for someone to act "out of character" when they don't have consistent characterization. The plot of the novel is rather weak. Characters move from one plot point to another solely as the result of someone saying they need to do a certain thing or go to a certain place. Aside from Markham, none of the characters seem to have any agency. The revenge story itself gets sidelined for quite a bit in place of a generic quest.

The two biggest flaws with Before the Broken Star are pacing and the inability to build tension. The pacing for this novel is kind of all over the place. Everley sailing to the island seems to take up just as much of the book as the quest she's forced to go on with Markham. The journey itself doesn't seem to have any kind of urgency involved in it and it feels like it takes ages for anything exciting or important to the plot to happen. Some key revelations in the story take place too early to be satisfying. Later in the story, those same revelations could've been okay plot twists, but they happened too early and didn't really add anything to the story at that point. The ending also felt weird and contrived, with a last minute "gotcha" moment to set up the second book. As for stakes, there was a chance to make the ending of this novel very high-stakes. The reader is told very early on that Everley's heart will give out eventually and could give out at any moment. Unfortunately, the author didn't use this set-up as an opportunity to raise the stakes within the story, so the fact that Everley's heart could give out seemed like a missed opportunity and bringing so much attention to it felt odd. This book felt a lot like a novel that wasn't sure what it was supposed to be.

Before the Broken Star didn't really impress me. The ideas were there and the author had plenty of opportunity to create an interesting story, but failed to deliver. The novel suffered from poor pacing and not really knowing what it wanted to be about. The author has a very unique style and knows how to create a scene, but struggles to weave together a compelling plot. I don't think I'll be reading the second novel in the series.

Rating: 1.5 Stars

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God Emperor of Dune

God Emperor of Dune is a 1981 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert. It was published by Putnam. It’s the fourth book in the Dune saga following Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. My reviews on the previous books can be found here.

God Emperor of Dune takes place 3,500 years after the conclusion of Children of Dune. Leto II Atreides has reigned as emperor of the known universe for millennia. In an effort to preserve humanity’s future, Leto sacrificed his own by becoming inhuman. Under his rule, the desert planet of Arrakis has become a lush paradise, the all-important spice mélange has become scarce and humanity as a whole has been prevented from exploration. A rebellion led by Siona Atreides, a distant descendant of Leto’s, has arisen to oppose the god emperor, but unknown to Siona, Leto’s Golden Path for humanity requires her to fulfill a destiny she never could’ve conceived.

By far, this was the book I enjoyed the least in the series. It’s mentioned in the introduction, written by the author’s son, that Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune formed their own quasi-trilogy and God Emperor of Dune was the start of a new trilogy and that’s evident by the overall tone of this novel. Dune was never the most optimistic story, and it has a recurring theme of “you can’t change what’s meant to happen” but this novel was far darker and far more cynical than its predecessors. While I applaud Herbert for making Leto a tyrant and not trying to shy away from the fact that he’s a tyrant, this series has reached a point where those elements got tiring for me.

My biggest issue with this novel is the pacing. The copy I read was nearly 600 pages, but there’s a large section of the book where nothing of importance seems to happen. The beginning has a lot of things happen, the end has a lot of activity, but the middle is nothing. Siona plans her rebellion. Leto talks a lot about the future and his Golden Path but says very little of substance. There’s a lot of talking and plotting that never seems to go anywhere. This book basically had a lot of filler, and from the writing, I think the filler was meant to make the reader consider the overall themes of the book, but the middle of the book is so dry and boing, that I just found myself getting irritated. This series has also veered away from its science fiction roots. It’s technically still sci-fi, due to cloning, space travel and advanced technology, but most of the plot fits better into the fantasy category than science fiction. I wish the narrative had stuck closer to science fiction.

This novel has a cast of characters, but there’s not a lot I can really say about them. Leto II is the main character, but as a result of his extended life and no longer being human, he doesn’t really have much of a personality or character growth. Most of the scenes he’s in involve him either plotting to achieve his Golden Path, finding it funny that no one else realizes what he’s doing or  waxing poetic about humans unwittingly continuing the same cycle of violence and oppression even as they work to break the cycle. There is Moneo, a descendant, servant and close confidant of Leto’s. He’s torn between being scared of Leto’s non-human side and doing everything in his power to keep the emperor happy and making the Golden Path come to fruition. Hwi Noree, the Ixian ambassador, is sent to serve in Leto’s court and he falls in love with her, as she was designed to ensnare him. While I didn’t have anything against her, Herbert didn’t really give the reader a reason to like her or care about her relationship with Leto. We’re not really shown how she’s irresistible to Leto, or the other characters who fall under her spell. The reader is told that she was designed to make Leto fall for her, but nothing is really shown to enforce that idea. Lastly, we have Siona, who was my favorite character because she had a real personality. She had agency and a goal, which no other character aside from Leto is shown to have, and she read like an actual person. While she wasn’t necessarily a “good” person, she was the best character in the novel because aside from Leto, she was the only one who had real conviction behind her actions, not just blind devotion.

I know this review has been negative so far, however I don’t want to make it seem like this is a terrible book. It’s just a very boring one that I struggled to get through. There are three things about this book that saved it from being a 0 Star book. The first is its message about the nature of humanity. All of Leto’s actions, every act of oppression he’s caused, he’s done because he knows something needs to change within humanity. He spent years keeping humanity as a whole safe, but not allowing people true freedom, in preparation for what will happen when he’s no longer around. He spent three thousand years controlling humanity so that when he’s gone, they’ll become something better than it once was. The second is its discussion about messiahs and godhood. In Dune Messiah, Paul Atreides struggles with being a messiah to the Fremen and dealing with the blood their holy war, in his name, has spilt. In this novel, that idea was taken a step further to explore the idea of godhood and the affect that has on the person being worshipped. And it’s not a nice image, but the acknowledgement of the problems with worshipping a person as a god makes the progression of events and resolution of the plot really work. The last element I enjoyed was the subversion of a particular trope. Early in the novel, it’s mentioned that Siona, as an Atreides, is going to be tested soon. Her “test” is mentioned dozens of times before it happens. The expectation, even in-universe, is that this test will cause Siona to abandon her rebellion and hatred of Leto. If anything, Siona being tested results in her becoming even more convinced of the need for a rebellion. As a result, the conclusion came as a pleasant surprise to me.

God Emperor of Dune was a disappointment for me. Herbert clearly had a lot of very big ideas, but didn’t quite manage to explore on those ideas in an interesting and entertaining way. I liked elements of the plot, but not the plot overall. I can see how this novel sets up the events of the last two novels in the Dune saga written by Frank Herbert, but given how much I disliked this novel, I don’t think I’ll be reading them. Right now, I’m no longer invested in the rest of this story, as its moved so far away from what was seen in the original Dune. Instead, I might read one of the prequel books, particularly the ones focused on the war against the Thinking Machines. A war against robots seems more entertaining to me than god emperors playing 5-dimensional chess with themselves.

Rating: 1.6 Stars

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Galactic Mandate: The Scream

Galactic Mandate: The Scream is a 2019 science fiction novel by M. R. Richardson. It was released in early 2019 and published by Room 10 Publishing. I received an advanced copy of the book in order to write this review.

The novel follows a clone named Mato. After being taken from the planet he calls home, he’s taken on a journey across the galaxy. During the course of his journey, he’s forced to decide between what’s best of his oppressed clone brethren and the greater good. When his journey leads him to encountering the sinister Scream, Mato and his allies must figure out what they want and what lengths they will go to to get it.

The first thing I want to say about this book is that the author clearly has a very expansive universe. This story doesn’t take place on just one planet, or even two. Mato seems to go from one end of the galaxy to the other over this rather short novel. There are a lot of big ideas that the author wanted to put on display. There are strong plot elements and a unique story to be found. Richardson’s ideas are very creative and even if plot elements are sci-fi staples, such as clones, he’s found a new way to tell a story about them. The action scenes were interesting and fast-paced and there were a few moments where the outcomes of battle scenes truly surprised me. The story had a lot of potential and a lot of great ideas it was working with.

The biggest problem with the novel, however, is its length. The e-book is under 175 pages, and there aren’t enough pages to fully do the story justice. Events seemed to rush by far too quickly. Mato goes from his home planet, to being in a sticky situation on a space station and there isn’t enough time for the author to elaborate on the context of certain scenes or the motivation of characters. Jay, one of the people traveling with Mato, has a history with a number of people they encounter over the length of the journey, but there’s barely information given explaining his history with them. Events don’t feel like they have any kind of weight because the reader isn’t given a chance to absorb them before the scene changes. I feel like I would’ve enjoyed this novel far more if it was a longer, giving the author time to do some important world-building and let the story breathe a little more. As it currently is now, I don’t know how I felt about the characters, because I barely got to know them. I can’t really say that I enjoyed the plot because it felt incredibly rushed. There were scenes that were important to the overall story that I didn’t realize were significant until the very end because they were treated the same as scenes meant to move the characters from A to B.

I finished the book with a lot of questions still unanswered. Questions that I thought I’d get at least a partial answer to, within the story. I wanted to know at least a little more about the clones and how they were created. I wanted a little more context regarding the past conflicts between the clones and the Acolytes. Names were being thrown around in the story, such as God-Wrath and Dark Reign, without an explanation of who or what they are and the reader is supposed to fill in the blanks with very little information. The author probably wanted the reader to have questions after the novel ended, but in my opinion, I had too many questions when I was done.  The story felt a bit incomplete as a result.

Galactic Mandate: The Scream was underwhelming to me. There was a lot of potential in the story and the author’s ideas, but there weren’t enough pages to do it justice. Scenes felt rushed, some felt like they were thrown in. Important moments weren’t given enough attention. I do feel like, if given a longer page count to work with, the author could’ve written an amazing novel. I hope M. R. Richardson’s next novel is given the length it deserves.

Rating: 1.9 Stars

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April Book Haul

With everything going on, I've been doing a lot of reading. As a result, I've inevitably gone on more than one book-buying binge recently. Strangely, all of the books I purchased arrived on the same day, so I've decided to make a book haul post to show off my purchases.

(Please note, all book blurbs are copied from Goodreads.com)

And I Darken by Kiersten White || Genre: Fantasy

Blurb: No one expects a princess to be brutal. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets. 

Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion. 

But Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight against—and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty to the breaking point.

God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbet || Genre: Science Fiction

Blurb: More than three thousand years have passed since the first events recorded in DUNE. Only one link survives with those tumultuous times: the grotesque figure of Leto Atreides, son of the prophet Paul Muad'Dib, and now the virtually immortal God Emperor of Dune. He alone understands the future, and he knows with a terrible certainty that the evolution of his race is at an end unless he can breed new qualities into his species. But to achieve his final victory, Leto Atreides must also bring about his own downfall.

Prelude to Extinction by Andreas Karpf || Genre: Science Fiction

Blurb: When Jack Harrison climbed down the short ladder from the airlock and stepped onto the debris covered soil, the ground crackled with the sound of dried leaves and twigs. Warm sunlight shined through his helmet, making him almost forget the decade he just spent captaining Earth’s first ship to another star system. The serene tropical surroundings, though, stood in stark contrast to the long abandoned structures that lay nearby.

Evidence points to a massacre – the systematic extermination of an alien colony hundreds of millennia ahead of humanity. Time, however, has erased any trace of the attackers. Jack and his crew barely start probing the ruins before their curiosity betrays them as an abandoned alien device cuts them off from their main ship. Lost and short on supplies, survival soon becomes their only goal. Even their short-lived rescue by an alien race, who themselves are under siege, offers little hope. As they struggle to find a way home, signs begin pointing to a danger darker than any they could have foreseen. Jack knows that playing it safe may no longer be an option – but his only other choice is to confront a threat that they don’t even begin to understand.

Batman Volume 1: The Court of Owls by Scott Snyder || Genre: Comics

Blurb: After a series of brutal murders rocks Gotham City, Batman begins to realize that perhaps these crimes go far deeper than appearances suggest. As the Caped Crusader begins to unravel this deadly mystery, he discovers a conspiracy going back to his youth and beyond to the origins of the city he's sworn to protect. Could the Court of Owls, once thought to be nothing more than an urban legend, be behind the crime and corruption? Or is Bruce Wayne losing his grip on sanity and falling prey to the pressures of his war on crime?

Superman, Volume 1: Son of Superman by Peter J. Tomasi || Genre: Comics

Blurb: After the stunning events of DC Universe: Rebirth, the world is left without Superman! Luckily, there is another Man of Steel to fill his shoes: the pre-Flashpoint Kal-El! However, can this new Superman protect the world while raising a super-son with his wife, Lois Lane? And should they help their boy use his new and rapidly increasing abilities, or hide them from the world?

Those are the books I bought during my book-buying sprees. I know it's not a huge haul, but it's more books than I've bought in a while, and I felt like sharing them.

Have you bought any new books recently? Any books you'd recommend?

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Eve: The Awakening

Eve: The Awakening is a 2015 young adult science fiction novel by Jenna Moreci. It was the author's debut novel. She self-published the novel and her follow-up was the acclaimed fantasy novel, The Savior's Champion. I became aware of this novel due to the author having a YouTube channel where she discusses writing and gives out writing advice.

The novel follows a teenager named Eve who is a chimera, meaning she has telekinetic abilities, along with a few other physical attributes, which separates her from the rest of humanity. After years of being an outcast and hated due to her abilities, Eve begins college at the esteemed Billington University, fully-prepared to reinvent herself and live as an ordinary human being. But things at Billington aren’t as they seem. In a school filled with prodigies, socialites, and the leaders of tomorrow, Eve finds that the complex social hierarchy makes passing as a human much harder than she had anticipated. Even worse, Billington is harboring a secret of its own: Interlopers have infiltrated the university, and their sinister plans are targeted at chimeras—like Eve. She must decide if she's going to stay in the shadows or rise up and fight.

I feel like I should start off this review by discussing the characters within the story. There is Eve, the title character and protagonist. I felt so-so about her to be honest. She had personality, and attitude, but at times, it just didn't make sense to me. She would easily brush off some things people said or did to her, but become enraged over other, less serious, events. Speaking of the way she was treated, all chimeras are feared by most of humanity because they aren't understood and because they have this innate power. Eve is no exception and, after her status as a chimera is revealed, people at the college start treating her poorly and for the most part she does nothing about it. She doesn't argue back, she doesn't fight back, she just lets it happen. While I can understand the "don't sink to their level" argument, it made me start to dislike her character. On her journey, Eve makes a number of quirky and interesting friends. The thing about them though, is that they have exactly one thing about them that makes them unique. Sancho is a pyromaniac. Percy is flamboyantly gay. JJ is a hacker extraordinaire. They're all quirky but one-dimensional. There are Madison, Heather and Hayden, the stereotypical mean girls who serve as Eve's "friends" early in the story, only to turn on her later. Lastly, there are the Interlopers, who serves as a faceless army of evil aliens and don't have much personality. They have an evil plan, details about that plan don't really seem to matter, but they're evil and they need to be stopped. 

I love science fiction. I especially love sci-fi that takes place on Earth rather than on some far-off planet. When I read the blurb for this book, I thought it would be right up my alley. It turned out that I was wrong. While the story had potential, it was bogged down by a number of problems. One issue I had was with the amount of filler within this book. There was a lot more filler than was needed, which led to side storylines never going anywhere or not having a real conclusion. In a story about people with superpowers being targeted by aliens, Eve dealing with a math teacher who hates her feels out of place. There's also a storyline that's problematic, for lack of a better term, because a character is nearly assaulted and nothing ever comes of it. There are no repercussions, no consequences, the assault is stopped and that's it. The fact that these plotlines are in the story and don't really have a purpose indicates that maybe, they should've been omitted entirely. Another issue that I had was with the way the plot progresses. This novel isn't a character-driven story, but I wouldn't say it's plot driven either. It kind of straddles both methods and it suffers because of it. It feels like Eve is being dragged through the story half the time and pulling it along the other half. I didn't hate the novel, but the filler and lack of clear direction made it difficult for me to fully enjoy.

Finally. let's discuss the plot itself. Due to some of the filler element, it does move rather slowly. Once the plot starts, important events come in fits and spurts. As with most novels, there's more action and activity in the second half of the story than in the first half, and once the plot starts moving, in earnest, it moves rather quickly. Some of the fight scenes I found engaging, while others didn't really excite me due to the pacing being a little inconsistent. There's a romantic subplot that takes place, which to be honest didn't interest me, but it also didn't detract from the story. It was just sort of there, kind of like Eve's love interest to be honest. Then, comes the plot twist, which I won't fully delve into but I do want to mention. Some stories have very obvious or heavy-handed plot twists; some have more subtle or "gotcha" ones. The plot twist in Eve:The Awakening is neither, but it's supposed to feel like the second one in an attempt to not be the first. The issue is that there isn't any kind of foreshadowing for the twist to make sense and the world's own internal rules are broken in order to make it work. There was a lot of potential here, but the potential wasn't met.

I don't want to make it sound like I completely hated this novel, because I didn't. The core idea Moreci had is fascinating. The detail she put into the world-building and explanation of chimeras was fantastic, it just got bogged down by the college drama and filler. This book does more showing than telling, which is good. I liked her writing style overall, and good for a first novel. She clearly has talent as a writer and some of the mistakes she made in this novel, she learned from and remembered while writing The Savior's Champion. She had a lot of talent, but fell into some of the pitfalls plenty of debut authors do. The only solution to that issue is to keep writing and improve her skills, which she has done. 

I wanted to like Eve: The Awakening, but to be honest, it just wasn't right for me. It's not a terrible book, but I didn't really enjoy very much of it. There were too many extra elements that weren't needed, too many side plots which took me out of the story. Considering this is Jenna Moreci's debut novel, I wouldn't say that it was bad, just a bit disappointing. Perhaps I set my expectations too high going into this novel.

Rating: 2.3 stars

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Children of Dune

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Children of Dune is a 1976 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert. It's the sequel to Dune Messiah and is the third book in the Dune saga. It was the first hardcover science fiction book to become a bestseller. It was nominated for the 1977 Hugo Award. Dune Messiah and Children of Dune were adapted into a Sci-Fi Channel miniseries, titled Children of Dune, in 2003 and received positive reviews.  This novel was the last of Frank Herbert's novels to be serialized prior to publication. My reviews for Dune and Dune Messiah are linked here. Children of Dune can be purchased here from Bookshop.org or here from Amazon. 

Children of Dune takes place nine years after the ending of Dune Messiah and its story centers around twins Leto and Ghanima Atredies. They are the children of  the Emperor Paul Muad'Dib, who disappeared into the desert wastelands of Arrakis shortly after their birth. Like their father, the twins possess supernormal abilities—making them valuable to their manipulative aunt Alia, who rules the Empire in the name of House Atreides. Facing treason and rebellion on two fronts, Alia’s rule is not absolute. The displaced House Corrino is plotting to regain the throne while the fanatical Fremen are being provoked into open revolt by the enigmatic figure known only as The Preacher. Alia believes that by obtaining the secrets of the twins’ prophetic visions, she can maintain control over her dynasty. But Leto and Ghanima have their own plans for their visions—and their destinies.

I feel like I should start off by saying that I liked this novel a lot more than the book that preceded it. I found the twins, Leto and Ghanima, to be fascinating characters. With Muad'Dib dead, one of them will lead the Imperium when they reach adulthood. The enemies of House Atredies don't want this to happen. Alia doesn't want this to happen and the twins don't even want it to happen. Yet, they know that nothing they do can change the fact that one of them will become the next emperor; they can only change the circumstances of their ascension. A common question in the story revolves around whether or not they're completely human. They were "pre-born" as Alia was and can access the memories of past generations. The twins are also aware of the future, much as their father was, and know the outcome of events that haven't happened yet. This means that, much like with Paul in the first book, they know what's coming and have to wait for everyone else to catch up. This means that, rather than Children of Dune focusing on the twins' attempts to achieve a goal, it depicts them trying to create the ideal environment for the inevitable outcome to occur in. Neither child seems like a normal kid, but they aren't supposed to. Some readers might find it hard to connect with them, but I didn't and this is mostly because I've come to the conclusion that the Dune series should be read for the plot and world first and the characters second.

Not counting the twins, there are three characters that really shape the plot of this book: Alia, Jessica and the mysterious Preacher. In the nine years between Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, Alia has served as Regent for her niece and nephew, running the empire until they come of age. She has gotten used to the power she wields and feels threatened by anything that could interfere with her ruling. She also struggles with an addiction to the spice melange and her exposure to the Water of Life while in the womb and that giving her too much knowledge and memory for any person to reasonably handle. These factors all combine to create a brilliant spiral into insanity and devolution into the very thing she fears becoming. Jessica left Arrakis after the events of Dune and has returned at the behest of the Bene Gesserit to test if Paul's twins are human. Any sympathy I had for Jessica in Dune was erased over the course of this book. She's conceited, conniving and has this holier-than-thou attitude despite being responsible for numerous events that led to the events in this book happening. I'd be fine with that if she seemed to have a shred of self-awareness or guilt, but she doesn't and continues to act as if she's done nothing wrong. Lastly, there is The Preacher. By Dune Messiah, Muad-Dib was already seen as a god  and deified. He's the focal point of his own religion. The Preacher appears, walking out of the deep desert, and lectures the waiting pilgrims about all of the failings of Muad'Dib's religion. The meanings of Paul's teachings have been forgotten, the people he sought to protect and empower have lost their way. It seems like The Preacher's sole mission is to tear down the religion and empire Paul had built before his demise. The Preacher's character arc, and his connection to the overall story, is tied heavily with the themes about religion, mob mentality and loss of narrative control I mentioned when discussing Dune Messiah. The Preacher is by far the most nuanced character I've read in this series and once his motivations become clear, it's difficult not to agree with him.

One of my major complaints about Dune Messiah was that there isn't much plot for the length of the novel. I referred to it as being a very transitional book. The scope of the story is bigger in Children of Dune, Herbert was willing to take more risks and the plot is a lot more cohesive. Much like the original novel, all of the plotlines converge together towards the end of the book. There was also a much larger degree of world-building in Children of Dune although the aspects that are expanded upon appear to be about minutiae at first. With all of that being said, there were still some pacing issues. All three books in this series that I've read so far have the same problem: great beginnings, great endings, but middles where not a lot happens. This story did drag in the middle as events needed to happen to bring characters together that were separated and push the plot along. When I was discussing this book with my dad, the only person I know has read the whole series, he admitted that the middle of the book is somewhat of a bore. While I wanted to see more of the Dune universe, including other planets, most of what happened off of Arrakis was boring. People talking about events happening on Arrakis or scheming about future events to happen there. Pages of conversations and plotting with no action slowed the story down.

As I mentioned above, my dad is the only person I know who's read the entire series. When I told him I was about to start Children of Dune, he said he was jealous because I was about to experience the story for the first time. You can read a book several times, but you can only read it for the first time once. He told me, without giving anything away, that some of the events of the book are "completely insane". Obviously, this intrigued me and the story had a lot to live up to. It certainly fit his description, as anyone who's read Children of Dune knows. As a rule, I don't spoil books. I bring that up whenever there's a big plot twist or reveal I want to talk about, but can't. I'm not going to spoil what happens in this book and anyone who's thinking of reading it absolutely should fight the urge to search it on Wikipedia. All I will say is this: as I was reading, I was trying to figure out where the plot was going. (I feel like most readers do that, but just stick with me for a second.) There were a few plot elements that I guessed, or had an idea about. There was one that I didn't see coming at all. Never in a million years did I see that particular plot twist coming. I thought the relevant foreshadowing was moving in a completely different direction and I was wrong. The twist surprised me in a way no other twist has. Every other plot twist will be measured against this one. Now, I need to read the next book God Emperor of Dune, because the twist in Children of Dune makes me want to know where the story is going to go from there.

Children of Dune is overall a good book. It built upon its universe in a new and unique way. It had a number of surprises within its story and set up a sequel with nearly endless possibilities. There are some pacing issues and some characterization problems. As mentioned above, I've figured out that what I like about the Dune saga is the overarching plot and universe, not necessarily the characters. This book might not be for everyone, I know some people who claim the series is a little too "out there" for their tastes, but I think anyone who likes the original Dune should definitely read Children of Dune, even though it does mean having to push through the second book. I liked the book overall and because of how this one ended, and the plot twist that completely floored me, I'm definitely going to read the next book in the series.

Rating: 3.9 stars

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Countdown to Omega

Countdown to Omega is a 2019 science fiction novel by Robert Wingfield. It was self-published by the author and released in August of 2019. The author's website can be found here. I was provided with a free copy of the book by the author in exchange for an honest review.

The novel tells the story of a girl named Anthea who lives on a paradise planet and is an outcast of a colony of refugees and religious pilgrims. One day, a storm of meteorites begins to bombard the planet. She believes this to be an omen of the Gods returning. The “Gods” are in fact the remnants of the race Anthea is descended from, left behind by her own ancestors and evolved over millennia in order to survive. Their arrival causes an alien artifact given to Anthea as a child to activate, seemingly counting down, and sets off a chain of events that threatens a deadly conflict. Unsure if the amulet is the key to salvation or her doom, Anthea goes on a journey to prevent the devastation of her planet.

While I thoroughly enjoyed Countdown to Omega, the novel didn’t quite fulfill the expectations I got from the tagline. The tagline reads “Ancient Aliens meet Greek gods in an epic confrontation that spells the end of the world” which I thought was a bit misleading. I thought the story would depict an epic war between aliens and gods, not of a possible war between humans and aliens believed to be gods. I guess the truth of the tagline depends on how the reader chooses to interpret it. The tagline and the novel’s plot not quite meshing together isn’t a criticism by any means. The story within is more engaging and nuanced than a straightforward “Olympians vs. Aliens” battle royale.

The novel has a wide array of characters, far too many for me to list, but I would like to discuss a handful who I see as the most important to the story. First, there is Anthea, the main character. She’s a outcast among her people because she’s different, having a different hair color and complexion, from the others on the planet An-Ki. She draws ire from others in her community because she questions things, mostly the religion she’s an acolyte of, and if she needs to follow certain rules, she wants to know why. In addition to her rebellious streak, she has a very dry sense of humor and is quite sarcastic. Naturally, being incredibly sarcastic myself, I connected with her very early on. The two “Gods” Anthea encounters early in the story are a male and a female “Watcher”, named Phoebus and Diana respectively, who were sent to observe another planet and report their findings back to their own people. Their mission goes awry and thus, they end up on An-Ki. They’re both very clinical and emotionally stunted, much to Anthea’s confusion and frustration. However, despite being members of the same alien race, they have very distinct personalities. Diana is very cynical of many things and willing to do whatever is needed to accomplish their mission. Phoebus, on the other hand, is a far more curious about the world surrounding him and doesn’t have the same laser-like focus on the mission the way she does. The final character I’d like to mention is Tiresias, the main antagonist of the story. There are a number of antagonistic characters, but Tiresias does the most to drive the plot forward and, given that other antagonists are either his allies or his followers, he’s clearly the main villain. Wingfield wrote all of the villains really well, but Tiresias I feel is the best written one, because he perfectly embodies the power-hungry villain trope and it becomes clear in the first scene he appears in that he’s not meant to be liked. Anthea makes a number of allies throughout her journey, and this review would be far too long if I mentioned all of them, but something that I noticed, and enjoyed, about the characters was that they were all flawed and it wasn’t all the same flaw. Some were too trusting, some were very distrusting with no reason. There were characters who are religious zealots and others who don’t seem to believe in the religion, but see it as a gateway to more power. I loved flawed characters, I feel that they make a story more interesting, and having a variety of characters with different flaws makes a story even better.

It’s clear early on in the novel that the author did a great deal of research for this story and was passionate about what he was writing. The knowledge and the passion help guide the reader through the story. Wingfield wrote very vivid descriptions of the world, the people and events that effortlessly create the scene in the reader’s mind, allowing them to lose themselves in the story. This is a story that makes you think about creation, the origins of mankind and evolution. There are some questions about the inherent destructive nature of humanity and our tendency to create structures that foster corruption thrown in as well. Wingfield wrote a unique and thought-provoking explaining both the origins of humanity and some of our oldest mythologies.  The story is the right level of confusing, which might seem like a contradiction, but hear me out. Very little is revealed up front, but as the story moves forward, more details and answers are provided. The author also included appendices and a glossary that can be referred to if necessary. There are nods and hints along the way indicating where the story ends and what the author is trying to convey happens after, but they aren’t so straightforward and obvious that it gives away the ending. There were a few parts or moments within the story where I stopped and went “oh, that’s clever” after finishing the book when I thought about it.

While I did enjoy Countdown to Omega overall, there are some critiques I need to express. The book is a bit dialogue heavy. This didn’t bother me very much, but there were some parts where I would’ve enjoyed less talk and a little more action. I can see why there’s a lot of dialogue, it’s the only in-universe way to explain or reveal past events but at a few points it did get a little annoying. While the plot is very well-paced, it did get repetitive at a point. By that, I mean that three times the same basic situation, a confrontation between Anthea and her enemies, took place and those confrontations ended more or less the same way each time. The third time it happened, it started reminding me of that Charlie Brown bit with Lucy and the football. Each confrontation further the plot, but I found myself getting annoyed at the characters for repeating the same mistakes over and over.

Countdown to Omega is an excellent book. It takes two seemingly very different topics: Greek myths and aliens and melds them together quite well. It’s not suited to be a fast, casual read though. I think any fan of sci-fi should read it. It’s a fascinated, deep, well-executed story. I’m not sure if the author plans to write a sequel or not, as the ending works for both a stand-alone novel or the first in a series, but I’m excited to read what other stories he has to offer.

Rating: 4.4 Stars

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Bone Quarry

Bone Quarry is a 2019 science fiction and thriller novel by K.D. McNiven. It was self-published in November of 2019. I was provided with an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The story follows a team of marine researchers trying to discover why a number of dead fish are washing ashore off the coast of Brazil. On their first dive to collect water and coral samples, they discover what looks like an underground graveyard heaped with bones, both human and animal alike. After calling in a paleontologist to investigate their findings, the team discovers they might be dealing with a dinosaur believed to be extinct for millions of years. The research trip soon turns into a quest for survival as they find their lives threatened both in and out of the water.

Bone Quarry was a book I found myself somewhat disappointed in. This story could very easily be a good, strong thriller, with just enough sci-fi to explain how the events of the plot could happen. Unfortunately, it waffled on both fronts. There isn’t a great deal of science in this science fiction story and based on my limited knowledge of the scientific fields shown in this story, there wasn’t enough research done. Additionally, for a thriller, it stops being very thrilling early on. About 30% of the way through the story, the reader is shown the person responsible for the creation and care of the animals responsible for the underwater graveyard. From that point, it isn’t difficult to figure out where the story is going to go and what’s going to happen in the end. It’s your classic evil scientists vs. good scientists battle. The problem with this reveal happening so early is that it really slows the plot down. By this point, the reader already knows what the animal is, and now we know who’s responsible, so the middle part of the novel, where the team is looking for proof and runs into more trouble, falls flat. It starts to get boring as the research team sets up traps and cameras to catch the animals in action and the shady scientist tries to keep them from digging further. Additionally, the search for evidence about the dinosaurs is taking place at the same time that the research team is still trying to figure out why a bunch of fish are dying. Meaning that, in at least one part, the dinosaur hunt is sidelined in favor of trying to find the source of the fish deaths. It’s jarring and I feel like, if they’d found the answer to the fish mystery, and then the plot became about the dinosaur, it would flow a lot better.

The characters themselves aren’t overly interesting and the reason for that becomes obvious the further into the book you read. Meg, the dive team leader and main character, and Rourke, the paleontologist they call in regarding their findings, are the only ones that have any real development or somewhat consistent behavior. A good deal of the “character moments” are very straightforward scenes of people talking about whatever event just occurred and how they’re going to find answers. Dialogue is necessary for storytelling, but a lot of it feels flat. Certain characters will flip-flop their feelings on the situation from one page to the next and almost no indication of why is given. As an example, as things get more dangerous, one character, Jayden, keeps insisting that he needs to come along with the others as they investigate, but there’s never any real motive given as to why. As for the antagonists in this story, they’re entirely one-dimensional. There’s the scientist that’s fascinated by this horrifying animal, one who regrets how things turned out and that people have died, but is in too deep to stop now and lastly, the shady businessman providing the money. Their interactions are all cliché, their arcs conclude in the most predictable way possible and I spent a number of pages thinking “get on with it”. Speaking of characters and character dynamics, Bone Quarry has an aspect that’s really not needed in this type of story, and that’s a romantic subplot. Meg happens to be Rourke’s ex-wife and in between trying out outrun a man-eating dinosaur, they start to reconnect, which just felt unnecessary and tacked on. Not every story needs a romance, especially if it adds almost nothing to the plot.

While I have some criticism of the story, it isn’t all bad. The cover design is mesmerizing. The tension of the story, up until the mad scientist reveal, did create a sense of suspense. I’m of the opinion that, had the reveal happened later in the book, I might’ve liked it better. I appreciated the attempt to give very detailed and accurate descriptions, even if it didn’t always work out. Another thing I liked was that the “creature feature” aspect of the plot wasn’t the reason why the team went to the Amazon in the first place. The dinosaur running around Brazil wasn’t the reason dead fish were washing up on the beach. I know this might not seem like an important detail, but I would’ve been annoyed if the dinosaurs were somehow responsible for both the dead humans and the dying fish population. McNiven clearly was passionate about this story, but there were a few things that need adjusting in order for it to read well.

Bone Quarry is an average book, but it had a lot of potential. There were just too many story elements missing, or introduced too early to keep the reader engaged. Thrillers are meant to be thrilling, but this one lost my interest about a third of the way through it. The author clearly has a passion for this type of story, but there’s a lot that could be improved upon. There was potential for a story similar to Lake Placid here, but by revealing too much too early, the story as a whole began to fall apart and fall flat. It’s a fun read, if you’re willing to not get too invested and just go along for the ride.

Rating: 2.7 stars

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Dune Messiah

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Dune Messiah is a 1969 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert. It’s the sequel to 1965’s Dune and is the second novel in the Dune series. The story was originally serialized in Galaxy magazine in 1969. Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, its sequel, were adapted into a miniseries by the Sci-Fi channel in the early 2000s. Dune Messiah can be purchased here from Bookshop.org.

Dune Messiah continues the story of Paul Atredies, better known as Muad’Dib, which was told in the original novel Dune. Beginning twelves years after the end of the previous novel, Paul is now the Emperor of the Known Universe and possesses more power than any single person was ever meant to wield. Worshipped as a religious figure by the Fremen, some of whom have attributed him god-status, Paul faces the hostility of the other influential families he displaced when he became emperor and a conspiracy taking place right under his very nose. As his enemies plotting leads to House Atredies crumbing around him, the true danger to Paul comes to his partner Chani and her unborn child, the heir to his family’s dynasty.

I found the story interesting from several perspectives. As mentioned above, Paul has become a religious figure to the Fremen and a great deal of Paul’s inner conflict comes from the result of the Fremen viewing him as their messiah. They believed he was a messianic figure during the events of Dune, since he fit the criteria of one of their oldest legends. He accepted his role as their messiah, but as a result, he unleashed a jihad which has conquered most of the universe by the time Dune Messiah begins. (As a side note, jihad is the actual word used in the text. The Dune series uses a lot of Arabic or Arabic-sounding terminology and I don’t know why). I found Paul’s inner struggle fascinating because very rarely do you read books with religious themes that show the bad parts of being the focal point of a religion in such stark lighting. Muad’Dib is the foundation of the Fremen religion now, and in taking their religion off of Arrakis to spread, billions of people have died and many worlds have been destroyed. Paul is the most powerful being in the universe, and practically a god, but he’s unable to stop or curb the violence being done in his name and by his worshippers. At the same time that Paul is resentful of his role as this messiah, due to his prophetic visions, he knows that this isn’t the worst possible outcome for humanity, as terrifying as it seems. He seems to be operating under the idea that by being the messiah, and allowing the religion to spread and accepting his god-like status, he can set humanity down a path that leads to something other than destruction. I talked briefly in my Dune review about Paul’s view towards his destiny, which is that he’s “the chosen one”, he knows that he is, he’s never doubted it, but he seems to be the only person who knows what that means and what it will really cost him. He’s destined for great and terrible things, he doesn’t want to be, but he knows he can’t change it. Not only is he unable to change his fate, he’s unable to change anyone’s which becomes a driving force in why he makes certain decisions. He can’t prevent anything, only delay it.

Paul isn’t the only person who has become a religious figure in the years since he became the emperor. Paul’s younger sister Alia, who his mother was pregnant with when they escaped into the desert, was born with powers similar to Paul and, like only the most powerful Bene Gesserit, can access the memories and personality of previous generations. She isn’t the basis of her own religion, but she is a revered figure within Paul’s and finds the strain on her, combined with other factors, to be too much. Alia is seen as an abomination by some and a savior by others, which is both sad and disturbing, since she was born with more power and knowledge than a child could ever know what to do with. I’ve got a feeling that Alia not having a great grip on reality or her true identity is going to become an issue in the next book.

Although a great deal of Paul’s inner conflict comes from the inevitability of fate and his frustration towards his own destiny, the main plot of Dune Messiah is only tangentially related to those two themes. The overarching story revolves around a conspiracy between the Bene Gesserit, the Spacing Guild, Paul’s wife Irulan who he married only to become emperor and the Tleilaxu, another powerful and nefarious organization, to destabilize and dethrone Paul and put someone they can control on the throne. They attempt many different tactics to achieve this, from presenting him with a clone of a deceased comrade to trying to manipulate him into impregnating Irulan so that the Bene Gesserit don’t lose control of the bloodline. Even though this is the main plot of Dune Messiah, there isn’t a lot done with this idea. It’s very hard to successfully conspire to overthrow a ruler who is worshipped as a god, can see every possible future and is an expert at reading people. This plotline exists, or so it seems, mostly to allow certain moments at the very end of the book to happen without them seeming to come out of left field. All the conspiracy seems to do is give Paul another reason why he doesn’t want to be emperor any longer, but knows he has to accept the role.

Dune Messiah feels very much like a transitional book. I don’t know if that’s the word for it, but that’s what I’ve decided to call it. By that, I mean that unlike Dune, this novel doesn’t introduce a huge number of changes or a great deal of world-building. It feels to me like Dune Messiah exists mostly to set up Children of Dune. Dune ends with Paul usurping the Padishah Emperor’s throne and becoming emperor. Dune Messiah ends with Paul leaving his life as the emperor behind to wander the desert, the reason why he does this is a huge part of the plot, so I won’t say exactly why. The novel consists of a lot of people plotting Paul’s downfall, a tiny bit of personal growth and interpersonal drama for a few characters and then setting the stage for Children of Dune. I know that with any series, the first book sets up the second, and the second one sets up the third and so on, but there isn’t enough story in Dune Messiah for it to be complete. I’ve heard from others who read later books that part of Children of Dune could’ve instead been part of the conclusion of Dune Messiah to make the story flow a little better and feel more complete.  The novel’s also short compared to its predecessor. Dune is about 500 pages, with Dune Messiah coming in at around 275. It’s a shorter story with a lot less plot, which made it kind of a disappointment in my eyes.

Dune Messiah is an okay book. It’s not bad, but I feel like it doesn’t quite live up to the standard Dune set four years earlier. Someone I know who read it described it as the weakest of the original books, and I can somewhat see why they’d think that. I feel like it doesn’t add as much as I was hoping, but maybe I set my expectations too high. It didn’t reduce my love for the series, but I don’t think I have as much faith in Children of Dune being as good as the original novel. I’m going to read Children of Dune, because Paul’s story, the Atredies’ story, isn’t over yet. I’d recommend Dune Messiah, but would advise any readers not to expect too much of it.

Rating: 3.5 stars

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