Science Fiction – Page 2 – Jill's Book Blog

Review: Believe Me (Shatter Me #6.5)

Title: Believe Me (Shatter Me #6.5)
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Novella
Publisher: HarperCollins
Source: Purchased
Format: Paperback
Release Date: November 16, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

The devastatingly romantic fifth novella in the New York Timesand USA Today bestselling Shatter Me series, chronicling the events after Imagine Me, the explosive sixth novel.
Juliette and Warner fought hard to take down the Reestablishment once and for all. Life in the aftermath isn’t easy, as they and their friends at the Sanctuary work with their limited resources to stabilize the world.
Warner has his sights set on more than just politics. Since he proposed to Juliette two weeks ago, he’s been eager to finally marry her, the person he loves more than anything and has endured so much to be with. But with so much chaos around them, it’s been nearly impossible for them to have a wedding. And even Juliette has been distracted by everything they need to do.
At long last, Warner and Juliette’s future together is within reach, but the world continues to try to pull them apart. Will they finally be able to be happily, officially, together?
Celebrate the tenth anniversary of Tahereh Mafi’s bestselling Shatter Me series with Believe Me!

Review:

Juliette and Warner are ready to begin their new lives at the Sanctuary. Their first task is to get married. However, their clothes are destroyed and they have to suddenly postpone the wedding at the last minute. Warner is devastated, and he’s certain that Juliette is hiding something from him. The world keeps pulling them apart, but they have to figure out how to be together.

This novella follows the events of the final novel in the Shatter Me series. It was a little slow at times, since the main plot has been completed in the series. There were a lot of scenes of just Warner speaking to other characters. However, I loved reuniting with these characters one last time. There was still loads of tension, even though there wasn’t as much of a plot. It was fun to revisit these characters living their new lives.

Believe Me is a great final book in the Shatter Me series!

Other books in the series:

Have you read Believe Me? What did you think of it?

Review: ExtraOrdinary (Villains #1.5)

Title: ExtraOrdinary (Villains #1.5)
Author: V.E. Schwab, Enid Balám
Genre: Graphic Novel, Science Fiction, Fantasy
Publisher: Titan Comics
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: November 16, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Written by #1 New York Times bestselling author V.E. Schwab, Extraordinary expands deeper into the world of Schwab’s critically acclaimed novels Vicious and Vengeful.
Torn from the world of ‘Vicious’, where death is not the end, only the beginning of extraordinary powers… Three new “EO”s must grapple with their new abilities… and with those who would hunt them down! Featuring unseen character design galleries from Andrea Olimpieri and story commentary from V.E. Schwab!

Review:

After a near death experience when her school bus is involved in an accident, teenage Charlotte Tills gains extraordinary powers. When she looks at someone, she can see that person’s death in their reflection. Her own reflection shows her the man who will kill her: Eli Cardale. She has to find other EOs to figure out how to use her new power.

This graphic novel is part of the Villains series. It can be read as a stand-alone, but it does mention characters from the novels in the series, such as Eli and Victor.

Charlotte’s power of being able to see someone’s death was such an interesting power. It made it difficult to look at people, since she could see them dying, but at the same time she knew what to expect. The ending had a great cliffhanger. I didn’t know this was going to be a series of graphic novels but now I’m so excited!

ExtraOrdinary is a great Villains graphic novel!

Other books in the series:

Have you read ExtraOrdinary? What did you think of it?

Review: Iron Widow (Iron Widow #1)

Title: Iron Widow (Iron Widow #1)
Author: Xiran Jay Zhao
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Teen
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: September 21, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.
When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.
To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.

Review:

Eighteen-year-old Zetian signs herself up as a concubine-pilot to avenge her older sister’s death. Girls are paired with pilots, who use their qi power to power their machines and fight the aliens beyond the Great Wall, and the girls are sacrificed for their power. In Zetian’s first battle, where she is paired up with the boy who killed her sister, she surprises everyone when she survives the battle but the pilot doesn’t. Zetian is more powerful than they expected, so she’s paired up with the dangerous Li Shimin, one of the most powerful pilots they have. Now that Zetian has some power, she wants to figure out the reason behind this misogynistic situation to save girls from being sacrificed.

This book definitely lived up to the hype. It was action packed and exciting. The beginning was a little predictable, when Zetian achieved what she set out to do as a concubine-pilot immediately. Soon after avenging her sister’s death, the story picked up and had some surprising twists.

Gender was a major theme in this story. Zetian lived in a misogynistic society where the lives of girls weren’t valued. Girls were sent to the battlefield to be sacrificed during alien battles. However, when Zetian gained some power, with having a high qi rating and having avenged her sister’s death, she was prepared to prevent girls from being sacrificed in the future.

Iron Widow is an amazing fantasy debut!

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Blog Tour Review: Lies My Memory Told Me

Title: Lies My Memory Told Me
Author: Sacha Wunsch
Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Science Fiction
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: October 19, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

From the thrilling voice of Sacha Wunsch comes a heart-stopping psychological mystery in a world where memories can be shared—and one girl can’t trust any of them.
Enhanced Memory changed everything. By sharing someone else’s memory, you can experience anything and everything with no risk at all: learn any skill instantly, travel the world from home, and safeguard all your most treasured secrets forever. Nova’s parents invented this technology, and it’s slowly taking over their lives. Nova doesn’t mind—mostly. She knows Enhanced Memory is a gift.
But Kade says Nova doesn’t know the costs of this technology that’s taken the world by storm. Kade runs a secret vlog cataloging real experiences, is always on the move, and is strangely afraid of Nova—even though she feels more comfortable with him than she ever has with anyone. Suddenly there are things Nova can’t stop noticing: the way her parents don’t meet her eyes anymore, the questions no one wants her to ask, and the relentless feeling that there’s something she’s forgotten…

Review:

Nova’s parents invented Enhanced Memories, which is technology that allows you to instantly gain a memory, including learning a skill, traveling the world, or doing a dangerous activity. Now, people can live through risky activities, such as skydiving or doing drugs, without any dangerous consequences. Though Nova’s parents created Enhanced Memories, she doesn’t know the real impact of this technology on the world. Then, she meets Kade. Kade has an anonymous YouTube account where he does risky activities that are now obsolete since people don’t have to do them to have the experience. Nova and Kade have different opinions on the effects of Enhanced Memory, but she is still drawn to him. When people start treating Nova differently, she starts her own research into what Enhanced Memories, and her parents, are really hiding from her.

This story hooked me right from the start. Immediately, there were things in Nova’s life that didn’t make sense. When she was out with friends, there were people who would approach her, thinking she was someone else. Nova worked part-time in a nursing home with a memory care unit. There were some great practical uses of Enhanced Memory with those patients, since their memories could be saved before they were lost. However, as with all inventions that seem helpful at first, Enhanced Memory was used in harmful ways as well.

Nova was a senior in high school, but the storyline about her school got lost throughout the book. The story focused more on her part time job and her social life. It would have made more sense to have that school storyline continue, since she was still a teenager. I also would have loved to see a longer ending where there was more closure. I really enjoyed this story, and I would love to see what happens next.

Lies My Memory Told Me was a great new YA contemporary novel!

Thank you Inkyard Press for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

About the author:

Sacha Wunsch grew up dividing her time between the family farm in Canada and traveling to numerous fictional worlds. She was a bookseller before discovering her love of writing mind-twisty novels – which has proved an excellent job since she gets to blame all the TV she watches on her love of storytelling. She now splits her time between the city and the lake, and still travels to made-up worlds as often as she can.

Have you read Lies My Memory Told Me? What did you think of it?

Review: Doctor Who: The Wonderful Doctor of Oz

Title: Doctor Who: The Wonderful Doctor of Oz
Author: Jacqueline Rayner
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: BBC Children’s Books
Source: Purchased
Format: Paperback
Release Date: June 10, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Embark on a strange and enchanting adventure with old foes and monsters in this glorious crossover of Doctor Who and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

When a sudden tornado engulfs the TARDIS, the Thirteenth Doctor and her fam find themselves transported to the magical land of Oz. With a damaged TARDIS and an unexpected stowaway from the 1930s, their only hope of getting home is to follow the yellow brick road.
But when an army of scarecrows ambushes them, they quickly realise that everything is not as it should be, and they’re thrown into a fight for survival against a mysterious enemy. As each of her companions becomes a shadow of their former selves, only the Doctor is left standing.
Desperate to save her friends, she must embark on a perilous journey to seek help from the mysterious Wizard of Oz – and stop whatever forces are at work before she and her friends are trapped in the fictional world forever.

Review:

The Thirteenth Doctor and her fam, Ryan, Graham, and Yaz, travelled back to the 1930s to see the premiere of The Wizard of Oz. However, when they land, they discover that no one has ever heard of L. Frank Baum or The Wizard of Oz. Then, the Tardis is pulled into a tornado, landing them in the land of Oz. The Doctor and her friends, along with a young man named Theodore who stowed away in the 1930s, have to follow the yellow brick road to see the Wizard and save Oz.

This story was a clever combination of The Wizard of Oz and Doctor Who. The Oz that they visited was mostly based on the book, which is slightly different from the movie. In place of some of the characters from Oz, were Doctor Who characters, such as the Cyberman who stood in for the Tin Man. Each of the Doctor’s companions also faced the same problems that Dorothy’s companions faced in the original after some accidents: needing a brain, a heart, and courage.

Gender was an important part of the story. The Thirteenth Doctor is the first female Doctor. In this story, she meets the Doctor’s longtime enemy the Master, in her female form, called Missy. This was an interesting meeting since these two female characters never met on the TV show. Though Missy is on the cover, she wasn’t in the story for very long. I would have loved to see more of her on the page because she’s an interesting character. There was also a clever ending that you’ll have to read to find out!

The Wonderful Doctor of Oz is a fun Doctor Who story.

Review: Doctor Who: The Runaway Tardis

Title: Doctor Who: The Runaway Tardis
Author: Rebecca Gyllenhaal, Kim Smith (illustrator)
Genre: Children’s, Picture Book, Science Fiction
Publisher: Quirk Books
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Release Date: June 23, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Join the Doctor and her smallest companion on a madcap adventure through time and space! The beloved sci-fi TV series is now a charming picture book, perfect for Doctor Who fans of all ages.
Unable to make friends at her new school, Lizzie packs a bag and runs away. After accidentally stowing away in the TARDIS, she meets the Doctor, a mysterious woman who claims to be a time-traveling space alien. When the TARDIS malfunctions, Lizzie and the Doctor are sent catapulting through time and space, visiting the pyramids, the dinosaurs, an alien planet, and more. Along the way, Lizzie learns that making new friends isn’t so hard after all . . . but will she ever be able to get back home? Featuring Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor and an adorable new alien species, this sweet storybook is a must-have for Whovians everywhere, young and old alike.

Review:

Lizzie is having trouble making friends at her new school, so she packs some peanut butter sandwiches and runs away. As she’s running through the park, she finds a blue police box and goes inside. Lizzie hides in the box, which is bigger on the inside, until a woman comes in and causes the box to move. The woman is the Doctor, and her box, the Tardis, begins to malfunction. The Doctor and Lizzie visit many places throughout time and space such as the dinosaurs and the pyramids in Egypt. They eventually have to get a special species of engineers to fix the Tardis so that Lizzie can return to her home.

This was such a fun book for young fans of Doctor Who. There are classic Doctor Who moments, such as when the Doctor can’t figure out what’s wrong with the Tardis, and the classic phrases “wibbly wobbly” and “bigger on the inside.” This short story captured the atmosphere of an episode of the show.

Lizzie’s story perfectly mirrored the Doctor’s life. Lizzie didn’t have friends, so she wanted to run away from home. The Doctor has struggled with loneliness and the loss of companions throughout the series, so she had this in common with Lizzie. The Doctor is constantly running away from something or someone, so she could also be considered a runaway, like Lizzie. I liked this comparison to teach children about loneliness.

Doctor Who: The Runaway Tardis is a great children’s book!

Review: Switch

Title: Switch
Author: A.S. King
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: May 11, 2021
Rating: ★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

A surreal and timely novel about isolation and human connection from Michael L. Printz Award winner A.S. King.
Tru Beck is a teenage girl from Pennsylvania who lives in a world that has become trapped in a fold in time and space, where “real” time has stopped but humanity continues to mark artificial time based on a website called N3WCLOCK.com. Tru lives in a house that has a switch at its center. No one knows what the switch controls, but her father continually builds larger and larger boxes around the switch (Tru lives in Box #7). Tru leaves the box through a Tru-shaped hole to go to school, where she pays no attention to the new “Solution Time” curriculum. In fact, the only interesting thing that’s ever happened to Tru at school is when she discovers (on her first try) that she can throw a javelin farther than any human has ever thrown anything before in human history.

Review:

In June 2020, time stopped counting. The world became trapped in a fold in time and space and a website called N3WCLOCK started keeping time. Tru Beck had to deal with a lot of other issues during this time. Her house had a switch in the middle of it, but no one knew what it controlled. Her father began building boxes around the switch to protect them from it. Her brother was moody and surrounded by strange rumors of an inappropriate relationship with a minor. Then, Tru discovers that she can throw a javelin in track and field faster than anyone ever has before. No one knows where Tru’s sudden talent came from, so they’re suspicious of it. Tru has to deal with all of these issues while also figuring out how to fix time.

This was quite a strange story. The concept of time stopping in 2020 was a relatable aspect. With the pandemic, it felt like time stopped last year. A company reacted by creating a new way to stop time. Whenever we think that one system is gone, another one sneaks up and replaces it, sometimes doing the same thing but with different packaging. This new website was able to take over and profit on time.

Tru’s house was one of the strangest parts of the story. Tru’s father obsessively build boxes around their house until their rooms were all just numbered boxes. The house became unstable and started flipping over. It was hard for me to imagine this concept. With the exception of this idea of time stopping, most of the story could have been set in the real world. The way the house behaved was a little too strange for me to believe.

Switch is an unusual dystopian story.

Thank you Dutton Books for Young Readers for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor, Vol. 4: The Endless Song

Title: Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor, Vol. 4: The Endless Song
Author: Nick Abadzis, Elena Casagrande
Genre: Graphic Novel, Science Fiction
Publisher: Titan Comics
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 5, 2016
Rating: ★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

The Tenth Doctor and Gabriella Gonzalez return for a second year of cosmic adventures!
A bold new season begins for the Tenth Doctor and companion Gabby Gonzalez! Whether facing down an evil corruption of sentient music on a gas giant, catching up on unseen trips with Gabby’s best friend Cindy Wu, or journeying back to the dawn of humankind to witness the clash between Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons, there are no limits to the adventure – or the danger!

Review:

The Doctor and his companion Gabby Gonzales go on adventures in this graphic novel. They start on a distant planet that has been invaded by an alien virus, and end up traveling to the past where they have to fight alien creatures with Neanderthals.

I’ve missed watching Doctor Who, since there haven’t been new episodes in months, so I decided to read some of the graphic novels. I’ve enjoyed the graphic novels in the past, but this one was a little disappointing.

This graphic novel wasn’t as exciting as I expected, and the Doctor wasn’t even in many of the scenes. There was a comic in the middle, which was about completely different characters and didn’t seem to have anything to do with the Doctor until the end. I was expecting more exciting stories about the Tenth Doctor.

Unfortunately, this graphic novel was a little disappointing.

Other books in the series:

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor, Vol. 1: Revolutions of Terror
Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor, Vol. 2: The Weeping Angels of Mons
Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor, Vol. 3: The Fountains of Forever

Have you read Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor, Vol. 4: The Endless Song? What did you think of it?

Review: Vengeful (Villains #2)

Title: Vengeful (Villains #2)
Author: V.E. Schwab
Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction
Publisher: Tor
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: September 25, 2018
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

The sequel to VICIOUS, V.E. Schwab’s first adult novel.
Sydney once had Serena—beloved sister, betrayed enemy, powerful ally. But now she is alone, except for her thrice-dead dog, Dol, and then there’s Victor, who thinks Sydney doesn’t know about his most recent act of vengeance.
Victor himself is under the radar these days—being buried and re-animated can strike concern even if one has superhuman powers. But despite his own worries, his anger remains. And Eli Ever still has yet to pay for the evil he has done.

Review:

After Sydney brought Victor Vale back to life, he has to live with some changes to his superpower, including frequent death. Meanwhile the ExtraOrdinary Observation and Neutralization is trying to hunt down all of the EOs, or people with superpowers, they can find. They have to resort to their prisoner and asset, the villainous Eli Ever to track the new EOs. There’s a new ExtraOrdinary in town, and she’s like nothing they’ve seen yet.

These ExtraOrdinaries had incredibly destructive powers. They get their powers from being revived after death, and their power relates to their final thoughts before dying. There were complications with mixing different powers, such as when Victor had side effects after being brought back to life with Sydney’s power. These were creative powers with surprising consequences.

This story is told through alternating timelines, all leading to one massive event. Each chapter jumps to a different time period, whether years, weeks, or days before the final event. I thought this format would be confusing, but it’s actually easy to follow with the rhythm of the plot.

Vengeful is an exciting sequel to Vicious!

Other books in the series:

Vicious

Have you read Vengeful? What did you think of it?

Review: Resistance: A Graphic Novel

Title: Resistance: A Graphic Novel
Author: Val McDermid, Kathryn Briggs (illustrator)
Genre: Graphic Novel, Science Fiction
Publisher: Grove Atlantic
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: June 15, 2021
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

A gritty, dark tale of infectious disease gone wrong – the timely graphic novel from Sunday Times bestselling author Val McDermid
‘A brilliant and timely story, told with McDermid’s verve, style and passion. I couldn’t stop turning the pages, even when I could barely take the tension. Wonderful.’ Denise Mina
It’s the summer solstice weekend, and 150,000 people descend on a farm in the northeast of England for an open-air music festival. At first, a spot of rain seems to be the only thing dampening the fun – until a mystery bug appears. Before long, the illness is spreading at an electrifying speed and seems resistant to all antibiotics. Can journalist Zoe Meadows track the outbreak to its source, and will a cure be found before the disease becomes a pandemic?
A heart-racing thriller, Resistance imagines a nightmare pandemic that seems only too credible in the wake of COVID-19. Number one bestseller and queen of crime Val McDermid has teamed up with illustrator Kathryn Briggs to create a masterful graphic novel.

Review:

Journalist Zoe Meadows went to a music festival in Scotland to report on it. She didn’t expect the festival to be the start of a worldwide pandemic. The first cases can be traced back to Zoe’s friend’s food truck. Since Zoe was at the site of the start of the pandemic, so she wants to investigate it herself. The world is in a race against the disease before it takes over the word.

I believe this story was originally written before the pandemic, but it is so creepy to read now. I’ve learned more about pandemics and viruses in the last year than I ever thought I would know. This story seemed much more plausible than if I had read it years ago.

The disease in this story took over in a different way than Covid-19 did in our world. It was more difficult for the medical experts to treat and figure out the disease in the story. I think we were very lucky to have a vaccine developed so quickly. The characters in the graphic novel weren’t so lucky.

I loved the art in this graphic novel. Each page was a separate piece of art. The images were coloured with shades of black, white, and gray. The backgrounds were often collages of different scenes or newspaper articles, but they related to the subject matter in the story on that particular page. This kind of patchwork art reflected the way the characters had to piece together the disease and how to fight it.

Resistance is an honest graphic novel about a global pandemic.

Thank you Grove Atlantic for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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What to read next:

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard

Other books in the series:

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What to read next:

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Other books in the series:

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What to read next:

Jade Fire Gold by June C.L. Tan

The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker

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What to read next:

This Is Why We Lie by Gabriella Lepore

This Town Is Not All Right by M.K. Krys

About the author:

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What to read next:

Doctor Who: Combat Magicks by Steve Cole

Doctor Who: Legends of Camelot by Jacqueline Rayner

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What to read next:

The X Files: Earth Children Are Weird by Jason Rekulak, Kim Smith (illustrator)

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial by Jim Thomas, Kim Smith (illustrator)

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What to read next:

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

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What to read next:

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor, Vol. 5: Arena of Fear by Nick Abadzis, Elena Casagrande

Other books in the series:

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What to read next:

We Could Be Heroes by Mike Chen

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Other books in the series:

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What to read next:

We All Fall Down by Daniel Kalla

An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim