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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July Wrap-Up

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It's the end of the month, which means it's wrap-up time. I didn't expect to read as much as I did in July, nor was I expecting to have such a wide array of genre. Now, let's get into the books.

Books I Read and Reviewed

God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert- 1.6 Stars

The Unblessed Child by R.J. Kaldanis- 3.2 Stars

Before the Broken Star by Emily R. King- 1.5 Stars

Sea Witch* by Sarah Henning - 3.4 Stars

Books I Read, Only Reviewed on Goodreads

The Eye of the World* by Robert Jordan- 4 Stars (Goodreads review)

When I Was You by Minka Kent*- 2 Stars (Goodreads review)

Android Chronicles: Origins*- 3 Stars (Goodreads review)

Midnight Wings by Arielle Sieling- 4 Stars (Goodreads review)

Dudley and Friends: Nouns by Lori Brown- 4 Stars (Goodreads review)

From Here to Infinity* by John Gribbin & Mary Gribbin- 3.5 Stars (Goodreads review)

A Small Fiction by Mark James Miller- 3 Stars (Goodreads review)

Chronicle of A Death Foretold* by Gabriel Garcia Marquez- 3.5 Stars (Goodreads review)

This is How You Lose the Time War* by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone- 4.5 Stars (Goodreads review)

Polar Bear and UFO by Cynthia C. Huijgens- 5 Stars (Goodreads review)

And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer and Longer* by Fredrik Backman- 5 Stars (Goodreads review)

Genres Read

Fantasy: 3

Science Fiction: 5

Thriller: 1

Children's: 2

Classics: 1

Non-Fiction: 1

Anthology: 1

Literary Fiction; 1

Figures

Number of DNFs: 0

Total Books Read: 15

Pages Read: 3,740

Average Rating: 3.4 Stars

What did you read in July? Any recommendations? Did you read any of these books?

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Sea Witch

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Sea Witch is a 2018 young adult fantasy novel by Sarah Henning. It’s the first book in the Sea Witch series. The novel is a retelling of The Little Mermaid. It can be purchased here from Amazon or here from Bookshop.org

The novel follows a teenager named Evie, an outcast in her small fishing town. Since the death of her best friend Anna, she’s been overcome by guilt. After her other friend, Crown Prince Niklas, nearly drowns, she spots a girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appear on the shore. The girls befriend one another, but her new friend harbors secrets of her own. In order to help her new friend stay, Evie must make a sacrifice and the price is higher than she ever could’ve imagined.

The novel has four characters worth discussing: Evie, Niklas, Annamette, the girl Evie meets early on in the story who reminds her of Anna, and Iker, Niklas’s cousin. Evie is the main character and narrator. She begins the story as an outcast in her village, both because she’s seen as unworthly of Nik’s friendship, since she’s a fisherman’s daughter, and because many blame her for Anna’s death by drowning a few years before the story starts. She also hides the fact that she’s a witch from the unaccepting town. Her arc is about finding her place in the village and coming to terms with Anna’s death. Annamette is the mysterious stranger who comes to the village, looking remarkably like Anna, with a secret. Her characterization, unfortunately, wasn’t consistent throughout the novel. The way she’s written for the first half to two-thirds of the book doesn’t make sense with the way she’s written in the last third. There was potential for the two very different sides of her to work, but the character the reader is first introduced to isn’t given enough depth or nuance to make such a change work well. Niklas and Iker are the love interests for Annamette and Evie respectively. I can’t really say much about either of them, because they are pretty much the same character, with Iker being slightly more skeptical of Annamette and her story. While I did enjoy these characters, I wouldn’t say that this book has especially strong characters or character work.

I enjoyed the author’s writing style. She did an excellent job of setting a scene and keeping my attention focused on what was happening. The story itself feels very atmospheric and during the course of reading, I could see how deeply infused the sea was within the story. The inclusion of so much from Danish history was appreciated and gave the story a feeling of being more grounded in reality. I chose to read this book because I wanted to read a book about mermaids, and this book delivered. I enjoyed the mermaids, the magic and how it all fit together in the narrative. The conclusion was by far my favorite part of the novel. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of the overall pacing of this book, the ending really tied all of the elements together and fulfilled what the author set out to create with this story. As mentioned above, this novel is a retelling of The Little Mermaid, but this isn’t Ariel’s story, it’s Ursula’s. Henning did a spectacular job of creating a compelling and believable villain origin story. Also, and this one is the least important aspect of this review, the cover art is gorgeous and I want to see more by this artist.

While I enjoyed the writing itself and the ending of the novel, there are a few criticisms that I have. My biggest issue with this book is the pacing. The plot moves incredibly slowly for the first two-thirds. There’s a lot of focus on the culture and traditions of Evie’s village and discussing maritime practices, which wasn’t very interesting to me and I ended up skimming those parts to get back to the main plot. There are flashbacks to Anna’s death, spread throughout the book, focusing on a few different characters and their actions on that day. While I don’t have an issue with flashbacks, some of them felt unnecessary. The last criticism I have is in regards to foreshadowing. The novel’s antagonist isn’t shown to have ulterior motives or even that they can’t be trusted until very close to the end of the story. If there had been some suspicious behavior, or moments that stuck with me as odd, then the reveal would’ve worked better. As it stands, the antagonist’s goal, when compared to their actions before the “big reveal”, don’t fit together the way that they should. As a result, the plot overall isn’t as coherent as it could’ve been.

Sea Witch was not quite the book I was expecting it to be. I enjoyed the magic and the writing itself, but the pacing and some of the characterization didn’t quite work for me. As a villain origin story, this is good one, not great, but not terrible. The conclusion is by far the strongest part of the novel overall, and I wish the author had taken more risks earlier on to match the excitement of the climax. I haven’t decided if I will read the second book in the series yet. If anyone is thinking of reading this novel, I would recommend it, but caution that it’s not quite the story they think it is.

Rating: 3.4 Stars

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My Favorite Short Stories

Short stories are a type of literature that often get overlooked in my opinion. A reader may not remember the 15-page horror story they read as easily as a 300-page horror novel, but that doesn't necessarily mean that one medium is better than the other. Some of the best stories I've read have been short stories. With all of that said, I'd like to discuss some of my favorite short stories and ones I think everyone should read. 


A Rose For Emily by William Faulkner

Synopsis: Following the death of 74-year-old Emily Grierson, the narrator reflects on the sad and lonely life of Emily and the secrets uncovered after her death.



Bartleby: The Scrivener by Herman Melville

Synopsis: A Wall Street lawyer hires a new clerk who, after initially working very hard, soon becomes a troublesome employee simply because he "would prefer not to" do certain tasks.  



The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Synopsis: The narrator, a new mother, becomes obsessed with the pattern in the yellow wallpaper that covers the walls in the room where she's forced to spend most of her time.



The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe

Synopsis: A man takes brutal revenge against a friend who he believes insulted him.



The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

Synopsis: The citizens of a small town gather for their annual lottery, a rite to ensure the community's survival.



The Last Question by Isaac Asimov

Synopsis: A supercomputer is tasked with answering the one question that will determine the fate of humanity and the universe.



I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison

Synopsis: The last five humans on Earth are left at the mercy of a malicious and sadistic supercomputer.



The City Born Great by N.K. Jemisin

Synopsis: Like all great metropolises before it, when a city gets big enough, old enough, it must be born; but there are ancient enemies who cannot tolerate new life. Thus New York will live or die by the efforts of a reluctant midwife...and how well he can learn to sing the city's mighty song.


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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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