Category: Science Fiction

Title: Dragon Pearl
Author: Yoon Ha Lee
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Publisher: Disney Book Group, Rick Riordan Presents
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: January 15, 2019
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Rick Riordan Presents Yoon Ha Lee’s space opera about thirteen-year-old Min, who comes from a long line of fox spirits. But you’d never know it by looking at her.

To keep the family safe, Min’s mother insists that none of them use any fox-magic, such as Charm or shape-shifting. They must appear human at all times. Min feels hemmed in by the household rules and resents the endless chores, the cousins who crowd her, and the aunties who judge her. She would like nothing more than to escape Jinju, her neglected, dust-ridden, and impoverished planet. She’s counting the days until she can follow her older brother, Jun, into the Space Forces and see more of the Thousand Worlds.

When word arrives that Jun is suspected of leaving his post to go in search of the Dragon Pearl, Min knows that something is wrong. Jun would never desert his battle cruiser, even for a mystical object rumored to have tremendous power. She decides to run away to find him and clear his name.

Min’s quest will have her meeting gamblers, pirates, and vengeful ghosts. It will involve deception, lies, and sabotage. She will be forced to use more fox-magic than ever before, and to rely on all of her cleverness and bravery. The outcome may not be what she had hoped, but it has the potential to exceed her wildest dreams.

This sci-fi adventure with the underpinnings of Korean mythology will transport you to a world far beyond your imagination. 

Review:

This was an exciting story!

I loved the mix of folklore and a futuristic setting. Min is a Fox, so she is a shapeshifter. She lives on a different planet, but they take the form of humans since those are most common. There was a lot of science fiction, since most of the story took place on spaceships, but the background came from Korean folklore.

This story was so fast paced. I read it in just one day! It felt like a whole series because so much happened. It was thrilling in some parts too, because there was a lot of danger. Min started out as an innocent teenage girl, but she put herself in a lot of risky situations in a short amount of time.

I also like the diversity of the characters. The characters had Korean names. There was a character who preferred gender neutral pronouns. It takes a while to get used to a single person being referred to as “they,” but this was a great way to include gender diversity in the story.

What to read next:

Have you read Dragon Pearl? What did you think of it?

Title: This Cruel Design (This Mortal Coil #2)
Author: Emily Suvada
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: ebook
Release Date: October 30, 2018
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Cat thought the Hydra epidemic was over, but when new cases pop up, Cat must team up with an enemy to fix the vaccine before the virus spirals out of control in this thrilling sequel to This Mortal Coil, which New York Times bestselling author Amie Kaufman says “redefines ‘unputdownable.’”

The nightmare of the outbreak is finally over, but Cat’s fight has only just begun.

Exhausted, wounded, and reeling from revelations that have shaken her to her core, Cat is at a breaking point. Camped in the woods with Cole and Leoben, she’s working day and night, desperate to find a way to stop Lachlan’s plan to reprogram humanity. But she’s failing—Cat can’t even control her newly regrown panel, and try as she might to ignore them, she keeps seeing glitching visions from her past everywhere she turns.

When news arrives that the Hydra virus might not be as dead as they’d thought, the group is pushed into an uneasy alliance with Cartaxus to hunt down Lachlan and fix the vaccine. Their search takes them to Entropia, a city of genehackers hidden deep in the desert that could also hold the answers about Cat’s past that she’s been searching for.

But when confronted with lies and betrayals, Cat is forced to question everything she knows and everyone she trusts. And while Lachlan is always two steps ahead, the biggest threat to Cat may be the secrets buried in her own mind.

Review:

I loved this book as much as the first.

There were still lots of surprises throughout the book, though not as much as the first book. There were a couple of things about the origins of certain characters which I guessed correctly. I gasped at the end of so many chapters. It was so good!

I don’t know a lot about science or coding, so I think some of those parts of the story went over my head. I found the technology fascinating, even though I didn’t understand all of it. I think the panels are a real possibility in our future.

I loved this book. The ending was so good! I can’t wait for the next one!

What to read next:

• The Darkest Star (Origin #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

• 

• Zero Repeat Forever by G.S. Prendergast

• 

Have you read This Cruel Design? What did you think of it?

Title: The Darkest Star (Origin #1)
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Publisher: Tor Teen
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: ebook
Release Date: October 30, 2018
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

When seventeen-year-old Evie Dasher is caught up in a raid at a notorious club known as one of the few places where humans and the surviving Luxen can mingle freely, she meets Luc, an unnaturally beautiful guy she initially assumes is a Luxen…but he is in fact something much more powerful. Her growing attraction for Luc will lead her deeper and deeper into a world she’d only heard about, a world where everything she thought she knew will be turned on its head…

Review:

I really enjoyed this story. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Jennifer L. Armentrout’s books, but I hadn’t read one before. Now I’m going to look for more of her books.

This world was like ours, but there was an alien invasion. The aliens can take the form of humans, so it can be difficult to tell the difference, unless the Luxen (the aliens) wear a bracelet which signals what they are. The main character, Evie, becomes immersed in the Luxen world, after going to a Luxen club called Foretold.

I guessed the twist in the story fairly early on. It was the same twist as another book I read recently, so I was able to figure it out. I won’t tell you which book it was, but if you have read both books, you will know what I’m talking about.

I’m curious to see where this series goes, but I guess I’ll have to wait a while for the next book!

What to read next:

• This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada

• 

• Obsidian (Lux #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

• 

Have you read The Darkest Star? What did you think of it?

Title: This Mortal Coil
Author: Emily Suvada
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: Library
Release Date: November 7, 2017
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Catarina Agatta is a hacker. She can cripple mainframes and crash through firewalls, but that’s not what makes her special. In Cat’s world, people are implanted with technology to recode their DNA, allowing them to change their bodies in any way they want. And Cat happens to be a gene-hacking genius.

That’s no surprise, since Cat’s father is Dr. Lachlan Agatta, a legendary geneticist who may be the last hope for defeating a plague that has brought humanity to the brink of extinction. But during the outbreak, Lachlan was kidnapped by a shadowy organization called Cartaxus, leaving Cat to survive the last two years on her own.

When a Cartaxus soldier, Cole, arrives with news that her father has been killed, Cat’s instincts tell her it’s just another Cartaxus lie. But Cole also brings a message: before Lachlan died, he managed to create a vaccine, and Cole needs Cat’s help to release it and save the human race.

Now Cat must decide who she can trust: The soldier with secrets of his own? The father who made her promise to hide from Cartaxus at all costs? In a world where nature itself can be rewritten, how much can she even trust herself?

Review:

This book is amazing! I had heard that it was good, but I wasn’t prepared for how thrilling the story would be.

It is set in a post-apocalyptic world where people have electronic panels in their arm that can enhance their bodies. There are apps that can give you better sight or hearing, or even change the taste of the food you eat.

It didn’t take long for me to become familiar with this world, because there are very few characters at the beginning. Cat lives by herself and only has a couple of friends who live nearby. This made it much easier to figure out what the world was like, with the special panels built into people and the virus that threatened to kill everyone.

There were so many twists in the story. I never would have guessed the ending in a million years! I was reading it before bed and I couldn’t find a good spot to stop reading, so I ended up reading very late.

I loved this book so much! I can’t wait to read the sequel that comes out tomorrow!

What to read next:

• This Cruel Design by Emily Suvada

• 

• Zero Repeat Forever by G.S. Prendergast

• 

Have you read This Mortal Coil? What did you think of it?

Title: Rabbit and Robot
Author: Andrew Smith
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Canada
Source: Publisher
Release Date: September 25, 2018
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Cager has been transported to the Tennessee, a giant lunar-cruise ship orbiting the moon that his dad owns, by Billy and Rowan to help him shake his Woz addiction. Meanwhile, Earth, in the midst of thirty simultaneous wars, burns to ash beneath them. And as the robots on board become increasingly insane and cannibalistic, and the Earth becomes a toxic wasteland, the boys have to wonder if they’ll be stranded alone in space forever.

Review:

This book is a futuristic story, set on a space ship that cruises around the moon.

The beginning of the story was a little confusing. It opens right in the middle of events. The boys are trapped in a lake with talking animals. I had no idea where the story was going when it started like this!

I liked how dramatic the cogs, or robots, were in this story. They each had a dominating emotion which they would constantly exhibit. For example some were depressed, or angry, or sexual. They made the story entertaining because they were so extreme and unpredictable.

One thing I don’t really agree with is that it’s a young adult story. When I was a teen, I don’t think I would have enjoyed this story because of the mature themes. It is more of an older young adult novel since the main characters are teens, but the themes would be too mature for younger teens.

I enjoyed this book! It’s a unique dystopian story!

What to read next:

• Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

  

• Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Schteyngart

  

Have you read Rabbit & Robot? What did you think of it?