Book Review: The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway

The River of No Return: What it is about

What the publishers say: ““You are now a member of the Guild. There is no return.” Two hundred years after he was about to die on a Napoleonic battlefield, Nick Falcott, soldier and aristocrat, wakes up in a hospital bed in modern London. The Guild, an entity that controls time travel, showers him with life’s advantages. But Nick yearns for home and for one brown-eyed girl, lost now down the centuries. Then the Guild asks him to break its own rule. It needs Nick to go back to 1815 to fight the Guild’s enemies and to find something called the Talisman.

In 1815, Julia Percy mourns the death of her beloved grandfather, an earl who could play with time. On his deathbed he whispers in her ear: “Pretend!” Pretend what? When Nick returns home as if from the dead, older than he should be and battle scarred, Julia begins to suspect that her very life depends upon the secrets Grandfather never told her. Soon enough Julia and Nick are caught up in an adventure that stretches up and down the river of time. As their knowledge of the Guild and their feelings for each other grow, the fate of the future itself is hanging in the balance.“

The River of No Return: What I thought

This was a proper time-travel book: time travel wasn’t an excuse to get a modern person into a previous century or vice versa, but it was a concept that was used throughout the book. Not only as in time-travel, but also in stopping time, manipulating time. That was all very interesting.

On the other hand, I also had a strong Georgette Heyer-feel at times: aristocrats in the early 19th century, some romance, it was all there. Nothing wrong with that, but not really what I expected in this novel.

More time than I had hoped, was spent in the 1800s. A greater frequency of to-ing and fro-ing would have satisfied this time-travel nerd reader somewhat more. Thus, a large part of the book was historical fiction in which time travel did not (often) take place, but it was talked about a lot.

There is something fishy about the Guild and Nick wants to find out what it is. He discovers that something terrible is awaiting humankind in the future and together with other time-sensitive people, tries to stop this from happening.

I found the ending a little disappointing, because I didn’t feel the story was sufficiently wrapped up. I was reading this on an ereader and the ending came very unexpected. But in all, this was a very entertaining story with some interesting ideas about time.

---

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Number of pages: 464

First published: 2013

I got this: from the publishers, Penguin, via Netgalley (e-galley)

Genre: science fiction, time travel, historical fiction

Quick Book Review: The Lens and the Looker by Lory S. Kaufman

You know I love dystopian/post-apocalyptic books. Well, this is one that I came across a few years ago. It’s a Kindle download which is not such fun to read if you don’t have a Kindle (I don’t like to read whole books on my PC). But now I’ve got a tablet, and it was fine reading it on there.

This was a free Kindle download from Amazon. From an interview with the author on Curling Up By the Fire: “ It’s the story of three spoiled teens from the 24th century who are kidnapped back to 14th century Verona Italy. There they must adapt to the harsh medieval ways or die. The 24th century where these youths come from is an almost perfected society, where there is no pollution, strife, hunger or degradation of human or natures spirits.”

I enjoyed this book a lot. I found fault with it, too, but I found myself wanting to continue reading all the time, which of course is a good sign.

This book is for a younger age group than I thought, I would say 12+ as it definitely felt like a children’s book to me. That was not a problem, but I didn’t feel as engaged with the story as I otherwise might have. The 24th Century world wasn’t detailed enough for me: certain aspects were worked out nicely, such as everyone having an A.I., a kind of floating robot that they were connected to all the time. There seemed to be an inordinate amount of resources spent on History Camps: camps where history was enacted as realistically as possible, with sometimes hundreds of actors playing roles for a much smaller number of children, who had to “learn from the past”, often sent there for punishment.

At first when arriving in History Camp, the three main characters decide to co-operate so they seem compliant, and they plan to later, when the time is right, sabotage their stay in the camp. It was fun to see how the children slowly start to enjoy living in the past, form attachments, and almost forget about their plans to sabotage the setting.

It was also fun to see how the story developed with baddies threatening their quiet existence, and good people who might be a mixed blessing to have around.

This is the first in a 3-part series. What I especially like about the story is the mix of 24th Century and 14th Century story. The second book appears to be mostly about the children continuing their adventure in the 14th Century. I liked the 14th Century story, but not enough to buy the next book. I would love to know what happens when they go back to the 24th Century, though! I guess that will be described in the 3rd book.

Rating: 4

Number of pages: 336

First published: 2011

I got this book: Free download from amazon.com

Genre: science fiction, children’s fiction, Young Adult fiction

Have you read this book?

Did you enjoy it?

Quick Book Review: Gone: Fear by Michael Grant

Rating: 4/5
Number of pages: 416 (my Dutch copy)
First published: 2012 (this Dutch edition, 2012, Gone: Angst)
Genre: science fiction, YA
I got this book: from the library
Extra: Also see my reviews of Book 3 (in English) and Book 4 (in Dutch)

This is the fifth book in the Gone series, a series about a large group of children who are locked inside a very large dome, spanning many miles. They cannot get out and food and water are running low. There are opposing factions that all want to control or sabotage the town they live in. There is also a dark force that is calling some of the children to work for it.

Some children have special powers, such as being very strong, able to make light, running very fast, etc. They use these powers in their struggle to survive but also against each other.

In this fifth book, for the first time, there is a storyline about the outside world. The government are planning some actions that will be dangerous if not lethal to the children inside the dome. Also, the dome walls are changing. But does that mean it will collapse eventually so the children will be free again?

I liked the fact that “the outside” was now included in the book. So far, we had no idea what was going on outside and what they knew of the situation within the dome. I thought this book was a little better than the 3rd and 4th book, which seemed like fillers to keep the story going. In this fifth book the story was moved forward a lot. The ending was satisfactory if a little open.

In the books, many children are followed and this makes for abrupt reading, as the reader moves from one situation to the next. It’s a fun series for teenagers but except for the main idea, a little repetitive (there is a threat in each book that is fought and overwon).

Quick Book Review: The Mad Scientist’s Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke (DNF)

This book sounded just the thing for me: an SF story about artificial intelligence and how close it can get to human intelligence. Unfortunately, I could not get into the story, so I abandoned the book after I read about a quarter of it.

In a new future, Cat, a young girl, is given a robot as a tutor. He was build to look like a human and adapted by her father, a cybernetic scientist. At first, she doesn’t realise he’s not human, and really, it doesn’t matter, she loves him.

As she gets older and develops love affairs with boys and men, she can’t forget about Finn, the robot, who is still living at her parent’s house. But his love for her is programmed and not real.

There are hints of a Disaster in the past, after which a new, high-tech society has been created. But not everyone is keen on technology which they claim caused the Disaster in the first place. They frown upon the existence of robots such as Finn.

The story felt like a YA story, although it is not meant to be one. The writing is not very demanding and there is just the single storyline (I’m not saying all YA is like that, but it’s maybe more likely to be like that than adult books).

I didn’t find the story very engaging or exciting. It’s a kind of and-then/and-then story, very linear. It also skips years very abruptly at times, moving from one period in Cat’s life to another one.

I would have loved to know more about the society they were living in, the Disaster and the anti-automaton movement. Maybe this was further explained later on in the story. In the part I read, I found that kind of information rather sparse. Instead, the book focused mainly on Cat and her boyfriends, and of course, Finn. It felt more like a love story than a more general science fiction story.

This was obviously not the book for me, so I gave up after 110 pages.

---

Rating: No rating, did not finish the book

Number of pages: 416 (read to page 110)

First published: 2013, February 7th

I got this: from the publishers via Netgalley (ebook)

Genre: science fiction

Quick Book Review: Man in the Empty Suit (DNF)

I love books about time travel, so a book in which a man celebrates his birthday with his younger and older selves, sounded like a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I found this book too slow going.

It was quirky and the ideas were very good (he witnesses the murder of a slightly older version of himself and has to find out what happened). However, there was a lot of running around the building with younger versions of himself out to get him. There was a woman, the only non-himself present at the party, but I didn’t understand her role at all.

Also, the story was too fixated on the man and the hotel he was in, and didn’t reveal much about the further world around him (which seems to have collapsed). After 150 pages I was still not very interested in finding out who committed the murder and why, so I gave up reading.

If you’re interested, here’s the description from the publisher:

“Say you’re a time traveler and you’ve already toured the entirety of human history. After a while, the outside world might lose a little of its luster. That’s why this time traveler celebrates his birthday partying with himself. Every year, he travels to an abandoned hotel in New York City in 2071, the hundredth anniversary of his birth, and drinks twelve-year-old Scotch (lots of it) with all the other versions of who he has been and who he will be. Sure, the party is the same year after year, but at least it’s one party where he can really, well, be himself.

The year he turns 39, though, the party takes a stressful turn for the worse. Before he even makes it into the grand ballroom for a drink he encounters the body of his forty-year-old self, dead of a gunshot wound to the head. As the older versions of himself at the party point out, the onus is on him to figure out what went wrong–he has one year to stop himself from being murdered, or they’re all goners. As he follows clues that he may or may not have willingly left for himself, he discovers rampant paranoia and suspicion among his younger selves, and a frightening conspiracy among the Elders. Most complicated of all is a haunting woman possibly named Lily who turns up at the party this year, the first person besides himself he’s ever seen at the party. For the first time, he has something to lose. Here’s hoping he can save some version of his own life.”

---

Rating: No rating, did not finish the book

Number of pages: 306 (read to page 150)

First published: 2013, February 5th

I got this: from the publishers via Netgalley (ebook)

Genre: science fiction, time travel

Book Review: The Miracle Inspector by Helen Smith

As you might know, I love dystopian fiction. I even made a post about it, with adult dystopia novels (as opposed to YA dystopia, which is much better known to a lot of people). When it comes to dystopia, I prefer a situation that is in the near future, and not too far removed from our current situation – that usually makes it even more scary!

The Miracle Inspector: What it is about

In The Miracle Inspector, I guess we are about 50 years in the future, in London, England. Women can’t work outside the home and cannot go anywhere except to the shops and to family (there is an official at the Ministry to check out people’s family relationships to make sure women are really visiting relations and not strangers or friends).

Lucas has a good job at the Ministry as a miracle inspector. When a miracle is being reported, he goes to check it out. So far, no genuine miracles have been found, although the public do their best to make up their own miracles (the face of the Virgin Mary in a flan, etc.).

Lucas is a well-off man, with his own car, a rarity in London, and a nice house. His wife is Angela, a clever woman, but stuck to a boring life at their home. The couple make plans to escape to Cornwall, where they would be free, but they need passes to get there. Their attempt to escape London lead to serious consequences for Lucas and Angela.

The Miracle Inspector: What I thought

This book reminded me of The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood) to start with, because of the restrictions to women. These were society’s restrictions, and within their marriage, Lucas didn’t feel it was right that a woman like Angela had to spend all her time at home. On the other hand, he was a product of his society, so I didn’t feel completely comfortable with the way he thought about their situation.

Later on, the book had some elements of The Carhullan Army (Sarah Hall). But while there were similarities with that book and with The Handmaid’s Tale, The Miracle Inspector was definitely a unique book in its own right.

I loved how the society’s rules were made up by the people themselves. At some point, people were allowed to make the laws and some very odd regulations followed. Many of the rules were formed based on three (perceived) threats: everyone was a potential terrorist, rapist, or paedophile. Because of terrorists, people could not freely travel; because of rapists, women should not leave the house; and because of paedophiles, hardly any schooling existed any more. In London, there was a rumour that in Spain, pre-school children were often looked after by their grandparents during the day (when the Spanish women worked). But this was considered very unlikely, as you could hardly trust even the children’s own fathers with their kids, let alone the grandparents!

So, there were a lot of funny things in this book, but the plot is more serious. Angela discovers that life on the other side of the (London) fence isn’t so great everywhere either, and at some point she wishes she was safely back at home. The book’s ending is somewhat open, but it doesn’t take too much imagination to think what would happen next.

The world Angela and Lucas were living in seemed well thought-out, and I would have loved to know more about Cornwall, the place (besides Australia) that every Londoner wanted to escape to.

The book was well-written and a pleasure to read. If this was a children’s book, there would definitely be a sequel. Even so, I secretly hope there will be one, or a least another book based on the same dystopian world.

Rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

Number of pages: 248

First published: 2010 (Tyger Books, UK)

I got this book: for review from the author

Genre: science fiction, dystopia

 

Have you read this book?

Did you enjoy it?

Book Review: The Mall by S. L. Grey

A book about a shopping centre sounds boring. But one in which an alternate world is present behind the scenes, sounds intriguing. In this book, two people end up in an alternate world in which the shopping centre looks the same, but isn’t.

It’s a great story, even better if you love computer games, because it looks like the protagonists end up in one.

The Mall: What it is about

From Amazon.com: “Dan works at a bookstore in a deadly dull shopping mall where nothing ever happens. He’s an angsty emo-kid who sells mid-list books to mid-list people for the minimum wage. He hates his job. Rhoda has dragged her babysitting charge to the mall so she can meet her dealer and score some coke. Now the kid’s run off, and she has two hours to find him. She hates her life.

Rhoda bullies Dan into helping her search, but as they explore the neon-lit corridors behind the mall, disturbing text messages lure them into the bowels of the building, where old mannequins are stored in grave-like piles and raw sewage drips off the ceiling. The only escape is down, and before long Dan and Rhoda are trapped in a service lift listening to head-splitting musak. Worst of all, the lift’s not stopping at the bottom floor.

Plummeting into the earth, Dan and Rhoda enter a sinister underworld that mirrors their worst fears. Forced to complete a series of twisted tasks to find their way out, they finally emerge into the brightly lit food court, sick with relief at the banal sight of people shopping and eating. But something feels different. Why are the shoppers all pumped full of silicone? Why are the shop assistants chained to their counters? And why is a cafe called McColon’s selling lumps of bleeding meat? Just when they think they’ve made it back to the mall, they realise their nightmare has only just begun…”

The Mall: What I thought

The book begins with Rhoda losing track of her charge, a young boy, while she’s off to score some coke. Rhoda is not a nice person but knows she will be in deep trouble if she doesn’t find the boy back. The other protagonist is Daniel. He’s a typical teenager with a low-wage job, not really interested in his work. He’s not particularly pleasant either, but he’s… normal.

Slowly we start to see some more positive characteristics in Rhoda and Daniel. Rhoda especially knows how to survive in a antagonistic world. And while Rhada and Daniel can’t stand each other, they learn to work together as they are the only people they can trust.

Their world gradually changes from normal to strange. While they try to explain everything they encounter in terms of the world they know, soon it becomes apparent that this is not sustainable and they have arrived in an alternative mall where the rules are different.

I loved the idea of this alternative mall. That was a fun idea. The mall seems quite pleasant, but underlying it there are scary things going on. Whether they can ever escape again (and how) is a question that kept me busy.

However, before we get to the alternative mall, there is a long journey through the service corridors, which became a bit tedious after a while. But in all, this is a great story. It seems almost like being in a dream, where everything looks normal, but on closer inspection, it’s not.

In the end, I liked and respected Rhoda a lot, which was amazing given how she entered the story. Warning: the book has a (sort of) open ending. The reader can probably fill in the blanks themselves, and it’s not really necessary to know any more than we get. But it was a bit disappointing when I got to the end. I would have loved to read on!

Rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

Number of pages: 320

First published: 2011 (USA, this Dutch ebook edition, De Plaza, 2011)

I got this book: from a free download event by a Dutch literature website

Genre: science fiction

Have you read this book?

Did you enjoy it?