Editorial Reviews for Nominees
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 Score: 90+/100 (9.0+ out of 10)
It took us a week to read this book. Most books take us 1-3 days. We're still not exactly sure what we read. It's ironic that one of the main protagonists is literally named Loste because we certainly found ourselves feeling lost, bewildered, and wondering: "What's the point of this? Why are all these details here? What direction is this going?" This book seems to make about as much sense as the last Cirque du Soleil show you watched. And we LOVE Cirque du Soleil. We just don't know what the hell is happening story-wise half the time. And most of the time, the "story" doesn't seem to be the point. It's more about the spectacle of presenting wild things and being different or special. This book is surreal. It's dream-like. It's, perhaps, experimental. It's thought-provoking. It's mind-numbing. It's like a kaleidoscope of mixed, warped colors, concept, and ideas placed in a blender and set to puree. It's like trying to swim in an ocean filled with water, juice, soda, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, oil, and alcohol. You can't quite see five feet in front of you, which direction you're going, which way is up or down, all while you're struggling for air, your eyes are burning, and you have a sweet yet pungent taste in your mouth. This is ONE OF THOSE BOOKS. One of those books that drops you into an alien world and forces you to figure things out. In our experience and opinion, it's one of those books that prioritizes and heavily emphasizes the world-building and details to the point of becoming relentless, plodding, and overwhelming. We've read books like this before. For example, there was With Love, From Planet B by Zaayin Salaam, MD, another dream-like book that took us to a world full of cults and aquatic creatures with seemingly no end in sight. Anyway... with all that said, Childhood's Hour: The Lost Desert is a surrealist science-fiction/fantasy novel by E.E. Glass. You could also argue that the scale and stakes of this book qualify it as an epic. On a blue-sand desert world ringed by six realms, reality is periodically shredded by High Noom, a cosmic surge tied to a murderous moon called the dark bride. We'd compare this to something like the Eclipse from Berserk. Long ago a fanatic clergy fed children to a false god, Themon, until a lone Nightpriest exposed the truth and returned with Themon’s severed head. Since then, the deserts fear pretenders, meaning false gods in the land and sky, and they revere duty over dogma. Loste (the aforementioned main protagonist) is a traumatized outsider, a gwaeloo spat out of the Fray, a white, mind-shredding mist. He is the audience’s eyes and the center of a prophecy thread called Eliyon. Nadhez is a desert native, a Buhangen and Kloonie mix, with emerald healing elan and a raptor totem named Chihiti. He is the rescuer, guide, and moral heart. Mara is a leader and healer aligned with rose energy who rides the sauren Uris and runs incubation domes. She is calm under fire and decisive in crisis. Kushtakka is a silver-furred city champion who fights like a force of nature and is quietly driven by love for his ailing wife Halona and fragile daughter Kaya. Nijal is a battlefield controller, a mancy prodigy who nets monsters with disc-borne tethers and fells them with precision horn bursts. Ataros is Loste’s elder and grandfather figure, the last link to his past and the one trying to hand him a destiny he can live with. Chihiti is Nadhez’s luminous raptor totem and the embodiment of protective love, and her fate is the book’s sharpest emotional knife. Armastoya is a vast corrupted land-heart of mouths and rot, a modern pretender like Themon. The rimari are guardians of each desert, Azure, Gold, Titian, Emerald, Rose, and Crimson, who argue whether to endure or resist the cycles of noom. We only know this because we reread this multiple times and tried to write all these characters down. It's A LOT to keep track of! WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD! SKIP AHEAD TO AVOID. ____________________________________________ Loste staggers out of the Fray into a world of blue glass sand and living light. Nadhez saves him, recalls Chihiti into a totem, and teaches him how to survive. By the fire, Nadhez recounts the Nightpriest and Themon history that explains why this world distrusts gods and prizes duty. Trust builds, awkwardly and honestly. Next the world widens. We zoom out to the rimari council on a crystal summit. Satha-nure of Azure urges action against the encroaching Fray and the coming High Noom while others say to endure. The map of six deserts clicks into place, and the word Eliyon starts trailing Loste like static, destiny knocking but not yet answered. Then Armastoya and the poison strike. On the march to the capital, Loste and Nadhez blunder into Armastoya. In a feral, maternal blitz, Chihiti attacks to free Nadhez. They break loose, but Nadhez is poisoned with muki, not just a toxin but spiritual rot. He forces emerald light through Loste to purge trauma sludge and orders a desperate plan. He will enter tordir, a deep-healing sleep, while Loste drags him to the city, alone and in secret, because outsiders on sacred ground get killed. The clock starts with High Noom. A violet comet, the dark bride’s child, slams near Vaylan’s Fountain, a mancy nexus outside the capital. The sky goes purple and the city mobilizes. Nijal nets and detonates dune leviathans, Kushtakka tears through whatever moves, and Mara rides out, drawn by reports and by Chihiti, who is flickering as the link to Nadhez stretches past breaking. The gauntlet to the fountain follows. Half broken, Loste drags Nadhez toward the fountain while noom warps reality. A noombeast hunts Loste, he channels crimson energy into a glass dagger, and he kills it from within. As it dies, it rasps a single word, Eliyon. Loste collapses, bleeding out. With noom guttering, help arrives exactly once. Mara, Kushtakka, and Nijal converge as Nadhez kindles viridian fire to keep Loste’s heart moving. Then comes rose plus emerald, the heartbeat scene. Emerald alone cannot stabilize a gwaeloo, so Nadhez asks Mara to braid rose with emerald, an intimate cross-spectrum healing that is considered taboo. They do it anyway, and it works. This is the book’s soul, survival powered not by purity or law but by connection and choice. Chihiti dissolves into stardust after going too far from Nadhez or spending too much of herself, love with teeth and a price. Nadhez, still poisoned, performs a once-in-a-lifetime feat by raising a crystal mountain to contain the muki, buying the city time. Ataros brings Loste to a final star-bright lesson, his last push to pass the mantle and make the boy see what this gift really is. The book lands with the city having withstood a night of noom and a comet-born incursion. Loste lives, barely, marked by the noombeast’s dying word and by the braid that saved him. Nadhez chooses to stay, ending his pattern of running. Mara stands beside both, now fully part of the same unit. Kushtakka returns to the walls because families like Halona and Kaya need tomorrow to exist. The prophecy thread, Eliyon, is no longer rumor, it is active. The war against pretenders in sky, soil, and story is far from over, but the team is real now. The book seems to explore several themes, one of them being the dangers of cults. False gods versus true duty shows Themon and Armastoya as parasites wearing divinity, and the answer is costly courage and care. Trauma and cleansing, called muki, frames poison as both physical and narrative, rot from guilt, memory, and lies, and the antidotes are purges, braids, and bonds. Choice over fate insists that Eliyon might be destiny, but the story values choices, such as Nadhez saying I will stay, Mara attempting a taboo braid, and Loste refusing to die quiet. Found family under fire says survival is not solitary, it is people braiding strengths across rules and borders. It can feel confusing because the story splices intimate survival with myth lore and council politics, drops invented terms without a glossary, and pivots points of view as the stakes widen. Read it as a straight line from Fray to Rescue to Armastoya and Poison to Comet and Noom to Fountain and Braid to Aftermath and Hand off to Destiny, and the shape becomes clear. The short version is that a broken outsider named Loste is saved by a desert healer named Nadhez in a world that once worshiped a child-eating false god. As a comet and the moon’s wrath rip the desert open, a corrupted land-heart poisons Nadhez, a totem raptor gives everything, and the city’s champions, Mara, Kushtakka, and Nijal, ride to meet the storm. At Vaylan’s Fountain, rose plus emerald are braided to keep Loste alive. The night ends. The team stands. Eliyon is not a whisper anymore. It is the road ahead. ____________________________________________ SPOILERS END ____________________________________________ Ok, we have a few issues. First, did you notice how DENSE and convoluted that plot is? Well, you could argue that another word for dense is layered, another word for convoluted is intricate. It's a rule of thumb to have only three or so characters per scene. It often seems like there are ten. The economy of language is also a thing. Speaking of which... You have to read the book to get what we're saying about the details. On one hand, you could argue that it's eloquent. On the other hand, you could also argue that it's fluffy and flowery. Do you know like when an ultra-tenured university professor is giving you a lecture about quantum entanglement (or, perhaps more fittingly for this novel, marine biology) and you nod along because the words are pretty, but it's in one ear and out the other. There must be over a hundred different descriptions of sea creatures/aquatic-adjacent creatures. It was great the first twenty or so times, then it started seeming excessive, cloying, and perhaps even repetitive. We could've sworn there were like a dozen of similar-sounding descriptions of jellyfish swimming by. Then came waves of kelp analogies draped over dunes, stingray shadows skimming the sand, octopus or squid arms curling around everything in reach, starfish and sea urchin spines glittering in the “tide” of noom, barnacle crusts on armor, coral cathedral walls, nautilus spiral motifs etched into every relic, eel and moray metaphors for every slithering threat, manta-wide “wings” blotting the sky, swordfish silhouettes that immediately get eaten by something larger, and the recurring horseshoe-crab carapace comparison for anything even vaguely domed. Add schools of glassfish-like lights, planktony bioluminescence across half the set pieces, and whole “reef” passages transplanted into the desert again and again, and the aquatic palette stops feeling rich and starts feeling like copy-paste with new adjectives. How many more times do we need to read about octopuses, clams, crabs, and horshoe crabs (isopods)? Is describing the swordfish that was eaten going to advance the plot? It often just seems meandering. But just when we were about to fall asleep because this book reads like how a bunch of ocean-themed relaxation/ASMR videos sound, we had SOMETHING HAPPEN! Characters were being tied to stakes, faces painted, limbs bound in painful angles, silk veils fluttering while handlers chanted to a sky bride. Torches flared, a bridesmaid screamed, and ash rode the wind. The crowd spit on the charred remains in a warped gesture of devotion, and the scene finally snapped the story back to consequence... ...before describing more sea creatures and aquatic stuff until we got to more action/battle scenes, at which point we were checked out. This book may be for you if you like surrealist, dream-like literature. Or it could be for you if you really like books with heavy emphasis on world-building. This book is not yet publicly available. Stay tuned.
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 Score: 96/100 (9.6 out of 10)
Unpacking the Attic by Ann Mracek is a VERY special book! It's a memoir like no other. Memoirs usually follow an author's experiences in a linear, chronological manner. Unpacking the Attic, in contrast, is a beautifully fragmented, vignette-like collection of the author's memories, many of which are linked to items the author literally finds in her elderly parents' home. 99.9% of the time, we can't stand fragmented, vignette-like literature. Those types of books tend to come off as self-indulgent, style-over-substance affairs. They tend to be chaotic and hard to follow. In contrast, Mracek's memoir almost seems more episodic, like chapters in a storied life filled with powerful, touching, and inspirational memories. It's a lot more artsy, dare we say... musical. This book is almost like a collection of musical notes in a brilliant composition. Unpacking the Attic is a book about reflections and memories as the author's elderly parents tradition into a nursing home, leaving their house behind—a house full of sentimental items and tons of precious memories. As an aside: this was especially touching for us. You may have noticed, but we recently moved from a location we were at for 10+ years. We had to go through a lot of our old storage boxes, bags, and shelves, deciding what to throw away and what to keep. Thousands of decisions, sometimes difficult ones. Every item has meaning. Every piece of paper has meaning. That feeling is truly captured in this book. For example, the book opens with a tidal wave of memories triggered by sorting “sticker-dot” piles for a whole house move: green for the parents’ new apartment, blue for the daughter, orange for the author, until even a thermos or a box of Epsom salts becomes a portal back in time and a kind of healing elixir. The author discovers her father's old plush monkey, which practically disintegrates in her hands when she takes it out of the box. You can really feel the tragedy of that. From the porch swing, she watches movers carry out doll furniture and a tiny table (Teddy in the second chair), and the project to “empty the attic” quietly becomes the project to unpack a life. In “For the Birds- Little Spirits With Wings,” Billy the parakeet rattles his always-open cage door and squeaks, “Help! Let me out!” The metaphor snaps into place: sometimes the door to freedom was open all along. Then there’s the hysterical “pork roast” fiasco (Billy hip-deep in cooling gravy, smelling like a pork chop for weeks), which doubles as a gentle lesson about unlikely friendships (parakeet plus collies) and staying open to joy. In “The Wren House- Finding New Purpose,” the author and her dad build sea-foam-green birdhouses and tinker at a dusty workbench, then distills it into three life rules: “Be capable. Be self-reliant. Be adaptable.” It’s practical, tender, and immediately usable. The book’s emotional peak is “The Crash- A Lifetime of Pain.” A rear-end collision in 1972 (pre-headrests) breaks her neck; surgeons talk rods and a halo brace. She fights through with a soft collar, daily chiropractic care, and sheer grit, losing perfect pitch and long piano sessions, but eventually crafting a dancer’s life instead. The chapter is honest without self-pity; it’s resilience, scored for strings. “Trees- Rooted in My Heart” links remembrance to legacy, like Egyptians carving names in stone, then anchors it in the lopsided dogwood that survived hail and history. It’s memoir as living monument. And the small, luminous pieces keep coming: a sewing-needle holder her father hand-crafted from stacked rings of wood, a Czech heirloom-inspired act of love; a rescued turtle, soaked in warm Epsom-salt baths until it “almost won” the school race, each artifact becoming a lesson in patience, repair, and choosing hope. That’s why this fragmented form works here when it often doesn’t elsewhere: every vignette is anchored to something tangible and purposeful, and every object hands you a takeaway you can use tomorrow. And not every single item is directly linked to a specific memory. In fact, there's a pair of slippers that Ann finds which she can't figure out where they came from or what they were for. However, this does kinda lead into her discussion about her dancing career, which is arguably the best part of the book. Ann Mracek, along with being a renown profession musician was also a phenomenal dancer, and that's despite the fact that she was born with flat feet and was told by her dance teacher that she'd never be a dancer because of her flat feet. How inspiring is that? Speaking of inspiring, one of our favorite stories in the whole book--which runs adjacent to this dancing memory--is when Ann talks about the turtle that her father rescued. The turtle had been run over and left for dead by some driver. It was actually being eaten alive by maggots when they found him. However, their father removed the maggots with salt and gave the turtle a chance to recover at their home. Ironically, the school mascot for Ann's school was a turtle. Even more ironically, it turns out that her school held a special turtle race every year involving diffferent turtles that the students collected. Well, Ann's turtle almost won the race despite almost dying (being "resurrected') and only lost because he got disoriented and went the wrong way at the last moment. You really get the sense that this turtle memory inspired Ann to overcome all the obstacles that stood in the way of her dancing. Another special memory that stood out was about when Ann cut her hair after having super long hair most of her life. She describes the challenge of having long hair through her many performances, often back-to-back. She describes often having to clean and care for it for two hours! But then she cuts it, and it evokes a powerful memory with her father who cries when he sees her shorter hair. He had called her his "Troll doll" because of the Troll dolls that had hair longer than their bodies. Hey, we had a few of those! You may have noticed that many of these objects and the memories they evoke also provide some sort of lesson or takeaway. Something we really, really loved about were the quotes. Similar to Deion Sanders's book, this book is filled to the brim with great quotes! Here are some of our favorites: “The thing the garden needs most are the footsteps of the gardener.” “When someone shows up on your porch with a box of snakes, don’t sign for it!" “All lives have pivotal moments. Angry, hateful words sling like arrows from the very people we look to for compassion. But it is up to us where those arrows land.” “Sometimes we imagine we are trapped when the door was open all along!” “There is a path for healing your inner child. Walk down it with me.” “Hurt people, hurt people. Healed people, heal people.” “We cannot grow roots without fertile soil. What lies below the surface dictates our destiny.” “Sometimes we need to do a little digging to get to the truth.” “Is nostalgia truly a longing for the way things were, or for how we wished they were?” “We need to reconnect to the truth that simply being together is joy enough.” “I can learn how to do it. Other people do this, and I’m just as smart as they are.” “Don’t plan the meal until you pull the carrot.” “Learn to enjoy those successes and goals met in the present moment. Celebrate, or you will forever be chasing after the next award.” This book is beautiful and has a lot to offer. Check it out on Amazon!  Score: 95/100 (9.5 out of 10)
Behind the White Beard is a warm, photo-rich, oral-history-style biography of Virginia Santa performer Dale Ballew! Do you recall any of your experiences with a Mall Santa? Or did a "Santa" visited your house or Christmas party when you were growing up? Many of us have an experience like this as Santa has become a ubiquitous presence, brought to life via marketing, media, and—yes—by the hundreds of people who don the beard & red suit in order to play him during the holidays. These Santas spread comfort, joy, and Christmas spirit every holiday season. But have you ever thought about the people who play them? The men behind the white beards and red suits? This book does just that, chronicling the experiences of a veteran Santa named Dale Ballew. We found this book to be incredibly interesting and heartwarming. It's easy to get so fixated on the costume and the character that we forget that there's an actual, living human being behind all of that: someone with thoughts, feelings, emotions, experiences, dreams, motivations, aspirations, and so much more. So, that's why this biography is so poignant. It really peels back the curtain and reveals the layers behind Dale Ballew, a Santa for almost 20 years! Could you imagine what a Santa of 20 years must've seen and experienced? That's fascinating! Now, you'd think that this would be a mostly bright and joyful book (and it is), however, it opens up with quite a bit of darkness, hurt, and trauma. Ballew recalls working at a morgue and a funeral home, which was scary and unsettling and forced him to confront mortality and perhaps even the existence of paranormal, spiritual, or metaphysical things. Now, while that might seem creepy, weird, or irrelevant, it actually might lend credence to the idea that if scary phenomena exists, then positive ones might exist as well: angels or even the Christmas spirit. Ballew further recalls horrific abuse at the hands of his step-father including frequent belt-whippings, a strike in front of his friends, and even being shot at. Also, there's a profound sense of being unmoored, uncertain, and perhaps even unwanted in Ballew's early life, having virtually no connection or relationship with his biological dad ("Shorty") until the age of 27. Rather than breaking him down and making him a miserable, depressed, unpleasant person, these terrible things may have contributed to his deep sense of empathy and desire to bring cheer and joy into the lives of children who might not get to experience positive things every day. As we'll get to later, there are quite a few examples of children like that—children who are hurt, sad, desperate, or lonely. If Ballew (as Santa) can bring just a small bit of comfort, cheer, and hope into their lives, he knows he has done his job. Another thing that's worth noting is his relationship with his maternal grandmother ("Nana"), who was actually loving and supportive. Ballew credits his grandmother as being the most influential person in his life. And perhaps she helped lay some of the groundwork as an example of what a "Santa" could be—an elderly figure who could bring kindness, familiarity, and light in a world that often seems so cruel, confusing, and dark. Perhaps we're reading too much into that, but that was one of our take aways. Anyway, remember when we talked about the many children who came to Ballew with a lot of trauma and baggage? Well, one of the little girls asked him for a family, a mommy and a daddy. A little boy asks for peace on earth before leaving. One of the children asks for her mother to get better from illness, which Ballew is forced to improvise by saying that "Santa will pray for her." Ballew as Santa really went above and beyond. He recounts a story about how he managed to write a letter to get an autistic child a $485 train set. He also goes out of his way for a girl named Olivia, who was one of the first five people to receive open-heart surgery in America at the time. He talks about the time he arranged to arrive in a police car for a child who liked them. In a rather humorous and comedic scene, he also stages being ticketed by police officers in plain view of a child who stands up for Santa and tells the police officers they can't arrest or take away his sleigh because Santa needs to deliver his presents. This is a really touching and heartwarming biography. Check it out on Amazon!  Score: 95+/100 (9.5+ out of 10)
Jake Fox: Ties That Blind is one of the most thrilling crime dramas and legal thrillers we've read in a long time! Author Michael Stockham is a real-life all-star, veteran attorney, and it shows! This book provides an authentic, believable, and eye-opening view of perhaps the most tense courtroom scenario imaginable. Oh, and it's incredibly engaging and entertaining. We couldn't help but get on board with the two major plots and get behind the major protagonists as they did their best through heartbreaking and traumatic circumstances. Where do we even begin with a book that tackles such heavy subjects as human trafficking, exploitation, murder, and self-termination? Well, maybe we should start from the beginning... This book has one of the most heart wrenching, shocking, and gripping openings of any book we've read, featuring the tragic death of the protagonist's daughter, Lucy, who hangs herself. The protagonist, the titular Jake Fox, is haunted by the questions any parent would ask when their child makes such a decision: - Why? - What did I do wrong? - What could I have done? - Am I to blame? - Can I ever be forgiven? Can she? - Did she still love me? Or did she hate me? While this traumatic scene sets the tone, demonstrates the stakes, and grips us, Lucy's tragedy actually isn't the main plot of the book. There are actually two major and overlapping plots:
These concurrent plotlines resonate with defense attorney Jake Fox on a deeply personal level. He later expresses how he sees his late daughter, Lucy, in both Rose and Beth, whose lives are about to be upended in a manner that seems completely undeserved, unjust, and unfair. This book really hits home the plight and vulnerability of kids, especially young girls, in our society. How often do we hear on the news about missing, exploited, or outright murdered girls? It's sickening, disgusting, and—for a lack of a better word—unacceptable. We should be doing more to protect the most vulnerable in our society. While Jake Fox is an excellent character in his own right, fueled by a heavy conscience and moral compass, he isn't the only memorable character in this book. Beth, the judge's kidnapped daughter, also stood out to us a lot. Despite the peril and trauma of her predicament, she still finds ways to cling to herself, her dignity, and her identity. She still finds ways to claw back at the perpetrators, showing herself to be more than just a passive and compliant "victim." Beth is targeted and trafficked as an "all-American" white girl with a major public figure as a parent, making her more "valuable" on the market due to the risks involved. This really introduces readers to the uncomfortable and disturbing mindset of traffickers and those who purchase from them. Zach and Lilith, the primary villains of the novel, do everything in their power to dehumanize and break Beth, to turn her into nothing more than a commodity. They dye her hair black. The chain her. They control when and where she uses the restroom. They control what she wears. They gag her in at least one scene, taking away her speech. They even try to rewrite her whole identity, calling her "Viv" or "Vivian." Yet their cruelty only magnifies her strength and our sympathy for her. Every small act of resistance, every flicker of her will to survive, hits like a triumph against the darkness. For example, she calls Zach by his real name constantly. Mind you, Zach isn't just abusive and a kidnapper/trafficker, he's a big, burly, biker/Viking-looking dude with a beard in two long braids. The guy would scare a full-grown man! But Zach sasses him and points out the dumb or short-sighted things he says and does, knowing she might face retribution. Beth even finds clever ways to drop clues for others to find her, like leaving the pamphlet in the toilet paper dispenser. Lilith is scary in her own way. While she's not as big or imposing as Zach, she's disarming in how feminine and womanly she comes across, at least in public. Aside from her red hair (which is a bit of a rare trait), she blends right in, all the while participating in horrific crimes behind the scenes. It almost makes you wonder about women like Lilith who are out there in society, scouting girls, preying on people, grooming them, and becoming almost a motherly figure or a "mentor" to them, all while exploiting them for profit. She's pretty much the Ghislaine Maxwell of the novel. Together, Zach and Lilith embody the ugliest truths about exploitation—how predators manipulate, control, and strip away humanity for profit and power. But the book doesn’t just leave them as faceless monsters. Their presence forces the reader (and Jake Fox) to confront uncomfortable questions about justice, accountability, and whether the system is enough to stop people like them. But there's another antagonist in the book we wanted to talk about: Krista Robb. Krista can only be described as a crooked and corrupt prosecuting attorney. She is the prosecutor opposite of Jake/Rose's side. To say that Krista is ruthless would be an understatement. You could almost argue that Krista is as evil and villainous as Zach and Lilith, enabling these traffickers and murderers to do what they're doing, all while trying to place the blame on innocent people. What does she care? As long as she wins the case and gets paid, right? It's funny... in real-life, it's defense attorneys who normally get a bad rap. Why? Well, society is programmed to buy into the headlines, jump to conclusions, and immediately see the accused as the convicted. Honestly, we buy into that way of thinking too. Sometimes, a case is so obvious (in the public's eyes) and the wrongdoer is so clear, that the formalities of a trial just seem tedious and unnecessary. However, our justice system exists with a burden of proof and with phraseology like "beyond a reasonable doubt" for a reason. In the past, extortion, bribery, torture, and other unscrupulous and cruel methods could be used to extract a confession and subsequent verdict. In the past, people were convicted and sentenced in kangaroo courts, often without knowing they had valid defenses. So, this book actually paints the prosecutor in a villainous role, at least in this scenario. We found that interesting. All of this to save Rose... a troubled and disgruntled girl who is accused of shooting her dad in the back of the head after allegedly being abused by him. Rose is interesting because, in a lot of ways, she's a lot like Lucy, at least Lucy in her darker times. Rose is not a happy camper and she rarely behaves herself, which makes defending her very difficult for Jake. But Rose is still worth saving. Why? Well, because if she's truly innocent, she should not do the time or be punished for something she didn't do. Oh, and there's Sheriff Stone, another protagonist. She's handling the law enforcement/investigative side of the both cases outside of the courtroom, which means a lot more when you consider that many of the other protagonists are tied up in one way or another: Beth is imprisoned by the villains, Rose is in jail during the trial, and both Attorney Jake Fox and Judge Harlan Dubose are tied up in court. So, a lot of resolving these plots actually falls on the shoulders of Sheriff Stone. One character whom we had mixed feelings about in this book is Judge Harlan Dubose. On one hand, he's a good judge. He's also funny at times. For example, when Jake tries to pressure him to recuse himself from the case due to conflict of interest, then threatens to appeal, Judge Dubose says, "Go ahead. I'll be sure to let the appellate judges know about your complaint when I play golf with them later this week." This got more than a chuckle from us. However... Judge Dubose was also very frustrating. Picture this: the man's daughter is kidnapped. Horrible things are possibly happening to her. In fact, we know that some horrible things are happening. There are times when Beth is beaten, half-starved, half dying from dehydration. Yet, Judge Debose is disturbingly stoic and calm, even cracking snarky comebacks like the golfing one. You could argue that this is all a fascade (and it probably is) to hide the storm going on inside of him, but it still bothered us deeply. Judge Dubose isn't just functioning in his role, he's putting his full faith in law enforcement and dedicating thought and effort into a case which may have little to nothing to do with his daughter's disappearance. Could you image if you were him? Would you be acting like that? Anyway, what really sealed this book was the ending involving Jake and Lucy, who kind of follows him around as a ghost or memory. It's very beautiful. Check it out on Amazon!  Score: 95/100 (9.5 out of 10)
Just when you thought Amber Berkowitz's baby pig children's books couldn't get any cuter, she publishes Welcome Baby Wigglet! Welcome Baby Wigglet is, quite frankly, one of the cutest and most heartwarming children's books we've ever read! We LOVED this book! Rather than just being a mundane exhibition of a cute, charismatic, anthropomorphic farm animal, Berkowitz's books do something much deeper: they explore the powerful, beautiful bonds and relationships between family members. This is something relatable to all people, especially children whose earliest interactions and bonds tend to be with parents and siblings. In the previous book, Gigglet Goes to School, the focus was on the titular character's bond with her mother, whom she could safely return to every day after school. In comparison, Welcome Baby Wigglet further explores little Gigglet's relationship with her parents (including her father, who wasn't a major player in the previous book), with the added dynamic of the coming of a new baby brother--someone whom Gigglet initially fears may replace her as the family's "baby." Of course, Gigglet is reassurred that her parents love her all the same and that she has the exciting new responsibility and role of being an older sibling. So, what initially seemed like something new and scary becomes something exciting and uplifting--an opportunity. But what remains is love. There is so much heart and so much love in this book. It's more than just about a family of anthropomorphic talking pigs. This is a story that speaks to all of us at some level. Gosh, it had us feeling like crying at some points, particularly in the scenes when Gigglet feared being replaced or when she finally embraces her little brother, Wigglet. Gigglet (and the audience) is reminded that your parents will always love you no matter what, even when scary new things come and crazy, wild things happen. It's a powerful, beautiful, emotion-filled reminder of that. This goes along with the sociological concept of primary socialization, the idea that the family is a children's first classroom and thus forms the foundation for the growth later in life. In Cooley’s terms, the primary group (parents and siblings) shapes the earliest norms, language, and love, and Berkowitz's books allow kids to experience that foundation on every page. Berkowitz's books also seem to explore Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. First come physiological needs and safety: the baby is fed, kept warm, and protected by attentive caregivers (in this case, the parents). It's also interesting to note that Gigglet herself serves as a sort of caretaker to her little brother, adopting a nurturing role. That foundation (physiological needs and safety) lets love and belonging flourish as the family cuddles, names, and welcomes the new little one. With belonging secured, the baby shows early esteem and curiosity, ready to explore and learn. In short, the story models how meeting basic and safety needs at home unlocks bonding, confidence, and growth. You almost get the sense that because Gigglet was raised with so much love and nurturing that she is able, equipped, and encouraged to do the same for her little brother, Wigglet. In fact, when she says that their names sound alike and says he looks just like her, it's really like she sees the love given to her reflected back through her brother. It's really beautiful! As an aside, it's also a lot of fun when Gigglet starts speculating about what her parents' surprise might be. Keen kids (or those who've already read the book) might chime in with "it's a baby!" But it's still fun to guess. Maybe you can provide your kids some open-ended questions about what they think. Check it out on Amazon!  Score: 9.6/100 (9.6 out of 10)
Little Boy, I Know Your Name by Mitchell Raff is one of the most emotionally riveting and impactful memoirs we've ever read! And that's saying a lot considering the number of memoirs we encounter here. It's no wonder why so many people urged and pressured Raff to write and publish a book about his life--what a life it is! This book is simultaneously a memoir and a memorial to those who suffer from generational trauma and also to the very special people in Raff's life who've sadly passed, like Malka/ Regina, Issa, Sally, and Yosef. In fact, one of the most special things about this book are Raff's relationships with these incredible, wonderful people, as we'll get to later. Anyway, Little Boy, I Know Your Name really seems to center around Raff's turbulent and abusive upbringing and relationship with his mother, a Holocaust survivor who watched as her people were betrayed and murdered around her, desparately hiding in a farm.The trauma that Raff's mother and father experienced can't be emphasized enough. However, mother's choices and actions later in life, mostly inflicted on Mitchell, are difficult to excuse. Mother's abuse of Mitchell is constant, persistent, and often seems entirely unprovoked, undeserved, and unnecessary. Mother is arguably the main villain/antagonist of this book, if we're going to look at it from a literary lense. She is the definition of a real-life monster. This book does an excellent job at towing the line between putting her abuse across to the reader without venturing so deep and dark that the book becomes nigh-unreadable, something we experienced with other memoirs about abuse. We've read books about abuse that are just incident after incident after incident--relentless. Raff knows what to talk about and knows when enough is enough. Mitchell's relationship with his mother is very interesting because you can tell that there's a part of him that's still sentimental toward her despite her terror. For example, Mitchell believes that his mother had a point when she challenged the moving contractors who tried to bait-and-switch or upsell her. He fears "betraying" her to child protective services. And he eventually has a better headstone built for her when she inevitably passes. Their relationship is so painful to read about, but it's also fascinating. It's like watching a car crash. You can't look away. And it never loses that tender emotional touch. One of the great things about this book is how emotionally riveting and resonant it is. You truly feel for Mitchell as a son, a brother, and a guy battling his personal demons. Ok, you might not feel so much for him as a husband or even a father (we'll get to that), but that's for the reader to decide. Mitchell really has two relationships in this book that we would describe as "Oh, so beautiful!" The first and foremost of these relationships is with Regina/Malka (Malka is her Hebrew name), Mitchell's sister. When they're separated, it cuts even deeper than any of mother's abuse. It literally hurt us every time they were apart. When a book can impact a reader that powerfully, you know you've got something special. There's also the mystery of Malka's parentage, particularly her father. One of the most tense scenes in the entire book is a grown Mitchell confronting his aged and ailing mother about who Malka's father is. We were on the edge of our seats! It was like watching a potential game-winning field-goal or goal-line stand. Mitchell's relationship with Issa is also special because Issa really acts like a surrogate father to him. He's like the father that Mitchell always wanted and deserved but never truly had. Issa is a heroic and savior-like figure throughout the book, except on one occasion where he controversially rejects Mitchell's lover, Betty, for no other reason than her religion/heritage (being non-Jewish). This scene is actually a turning point in the book. It's really the scene when Mitchell finally starts becoming his own mature person, making decisions for himself whether his guardians/parents support them or not. Betty is a tragic and sympathetic figure in this book, in our opinion. Yes, her marriage with Mitchell doesn't work out very well, but she becomes a great mother and shared-parent to Joshua, all the while putting up with Mitchell's B.S., especially his addictions. So often in memoirs, the author tries to skew things to make themselves out to be the victim. However, Raff presents a fair and balanced take, taking a lot of the responsibility and blame for the bad things that happened in his life. It takes courage and strength to admit to one's faults and mistakes. And that leads us to the most honest and frustrating parts of this book: Raff's battle with his sexual addiction. He develops a bad habit of going from one sexual massage to another, from one strip club to the next, and eventually began a decades-long affair with a woman named Lee. His relationship with Lee is best described or summarized in the following passage: "...our little clown car of dysfunction continued to wobble down the road." For two decades, they break up, then get back together. Shoutout to Betty for putting up with these circumstances. She deserves a lot of credit. There are also a lot of legal battles and more compelling drama in this book, including with Raff's son, Joshua. What a life! Check it out on Amazon!  Score: 94+/100 (9.4+ out of 10)
Literature can often serve as a sort of catharsis. It can explore the darkest crevices of human nature as well as exploring humanity's deepest, most uncomfortable questions. Passages of Peculiarity by Mark K. McClain exemplifies that. Passages of Peculiarity is a dark, unsettling, and thought-provoking collection of short-stories by Mark K. McClain! It explores themes like guilt versus agency, the price of power, cycles of abuse and retaliation, greed’s boomerang, and how evil can hitch a ride on objects, ideas, and even “good intentions.” “What Have You Done” opens with a moral pressure cooker: abused siblings, a dead father, and a dapper Anubis who treats damnation like paperwork. It is chilling, clever, and sets the book’s ethical stakes. In “Thieves”, a crew chasing easy money finds that the ground they disturb is keeping score. “The Knife” weaponizes compulsion, a siren-voice blade that passes from hand to hand, turning violence into a contagious spell. “Dreams” shifts into epistolary dread, arguing that sleep itself can be the villain. In “Potion Master”, a lonely and bullied teen is offered real power by a charming guide who forgets to mention the cost. “Purification” shows how grand plans to “fix” people reveal how faith and funding can be twisted into harm. “Ehre deinen Vater” (Honor Thy Father) is revenge as ritual cleansing. It is methodical, grim, and thematically on-brand. “Trouble in Balnorvia” widens the canvas with a surprising science fiction story mixed with gothic vibes. In “Darkness”, a watcher follows clues into the underground and learns the night has rules of its own. In “The Perfect Plan”, a clever teen invites her tormentors to a very old house and lets the house do the talking. BE WARNED: This book is full of potentially triggering content, pretty much everything you could think of. ______________________________________ ALSO, BE WARNED: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! ______________________________________ Still here? Still want to read some compelling, disturbing, spoiler-filled stuff? OK! The first story, "What Have You Done" really sets the tone for how dark and disturbing this collection is going to be. It follows Charlie and Sarah, a brother and a sister with a physically and sexually abusive father and an extremely neglectful drunk/addict mother. One day, Charlie takes a baseball bat in his hands and resolves to finally defend his sister from being sexually assaulted by their father again, something which has seemingly become a regular occurrence. Charlie initially takes out one of his father's legs, an act which can be argued to be in defense of life and safety. However, as his father (who turns out to be a Vietnam Veteran who is probably living with enormous amounts of PTSD and other serious mental health concerns) provokes and goads Charlie on, challenging Charlie's manhood, fortitude, and willingness to finish the job. His father then approaches the kids despite Charlie's warning, prompting Charlie to bash the abuser's brains in multiple times with the bat. This prompts the question: is it moral or right to kill someone who is abusive, cruel, and evil? To take justice in your own hands rather than leaving it to CPS and law enforcement (who we've seen fumble and leave innocent people vulnerable time and time again)? There is a slight hint of incest in the story--no, not with the father and his kids, but between the siblings. That angle is never explicit or obvious, but there is some talk about the siblings feeling good about sleeping in the same bed again like they did when they were younger. Now, it's possible we're reading into that too much. It's actually more likely that Sarah just feels more safe and comfortable being around her brother because she's afraid to sleep alone in the same room her father just died a bloody, violent, gruesome death in. It also makes the Anubis-angle of the story flow more seamlessly since he appears to both of the kids at once rather than separately. And that brings us to Anubis, the deathly demon-like deity/spirit who visits the kids after they've committed the dark deed and attempted to conceal it by burying the body. Anubis is conflated with the devil, and it becomes clear he has dark machinations. Similar to Seth in a story later on, he feeds into the siblings' distressed, anxious state, dangling relief in front of them like a carrot to a starving mare. By the way, it's very possible that Anubis and Seth may be the same character in different times and places. It can't be a coincidence that both their names have Egyptian-mythos origins and they pretty much behave the same. We're constantly on edge during this story because it seems like being caught, being killed, or being sexually assaulted lies behind every corner. Anubis essentially explains to the kids that a sort of karma exists, but in a different sense from the Hindu & Buddhist variations: when a life is taken, another life also needs to be taken. What goes around comes around. And, apparently, this cycle of death can never end. So, while law enforcement seems to be gradually gaining on the kids, who are already sweating bullets that the killing will be discovered, they are faced with an even graver threat: they can offer their mom's life, but then what? Whose life can they offer next? Each other's? It's a slippery slope! We will say that this story is very similar to another story later in the book: “Ehre deinen Vater” ("Honor Thy Father") which likewise features a son (Aaron) who steps up to kill an evil, abusive, sadistic father (Reinhold) in order to protect a little-sister-like figure (Lily). Really, the biggest difference is just the addition that the evil father is a serial killer in this story. And there's no Anubis. Other than that, it's almost beat-for-beat the same story. We move on to "Thieves"--a story about a group of grave robbers. The story focuses on one in particular: Elle, the uneasy and morally conflicted lookout whose new black ring becomes the story’s curse engine. We watch her slip the ring on, notice strange golden characters that weren’t there before, and wish aloud for easier treasure hunting. The ring heats and begins to glow, literally lighting up graves to plunder. And now's a good time to talk about the theme of CONSCIENCE. Elle seems to have a conscience and qualms about what the thieves are doing. Charlie & Sarah were haunted by guilt, fear, and paranoia after killing and concealing their dad's body. Lily seems uneasy about Aaron sawing his father's/the serial-killer's body into pieces. Later on, we meet Marv, a character who very clearly feels compassion, regret, and guilt--who clearly is apprehensive about taking his revenge on the bullies too far. Actually, let's talk about Marv and his story. "Potion Master" features Marv, a boy who is relentlessly bullied. He disturbingly starts idealizing bringing one of his father's weapons to school to take revenge, but his conscience decides against it. He is not a monster. And he isn't evil. As we were alluding to: that's what's special about this story. Like Walter White from Breaking Bad, he didn't start off as a bad guy. But then Seth comes along, one of the evilest characters in this book (and possibly a return of Anubis). Seth is a manipulative spirit in the form of a "friend" who seems to be trying to get Marv addicted to using magic to kill his enemies, all while trying to prepare Marv to take his place, essentially as a Dark One or a Death Angel. The magic that he teaches Marv is quite interesting. It transforms him into different creatures, essentially monsters from the depths of Marv's imagination. This story is special, but it might've been more special if "The Perfect Plan" didn't seem like almost the exact same story, except with Destiny taking the place of Marv as the victim of bullying (and sexual assault) who uses magical/mythical beings to get her revenge. Ok, there's one story in this book that we really didn't like. It stuck out like a sore thumb and we just couldn't shake it. That story is "Trouble in Balnorvia". This story is so different from any other story in this book in so many ways. Most of the other stories are grimdark, horror, paranormal, or fantasy. But "Trouble in Balnorvia" is more like a science-fiction story—like War of the Worlds. It seems really... off. Essentially, you've got an alien invasion and humanity reacting to it. And what's funny to us is that the aliens really aren't that scary, especially compared to all the other freaky, disturbing stuff we read about. The aliens are literally described as cycloptic, four-feet tall, and have four legs. This story seems to be trying to make the argument that humanity fears what they don't understand. And, yes, that goes along with the reoccurring theme of this book: FEAR and how people deal with it. But it just sticks out like a sore thumb. One story that stuck out to us as a positive was "Dreams". Dreams is incredibly disturbing as it features an individual who is essentially in a medieval-esque dungeon full of unbearable, horrible tortures. He is whipped mercilessly. One of his fellow prisoners, a woman, has her ear cut off. Another fellow prisoner, a man, has his tongue and arms cut off. It horrifying! But, as the name suggests, it turns out to be a dream. What's very interesting is that we get the fascinating recommendation/urge to: "Never dream." That reminded us a lot of Real Dreamwalker or Nightmare on Elm Street! It's also a surprisingly optimistic reminder that the things in our real lives that seem so bad are actually nowhere near as bad as they could be. It makes you value the waking hours, the fact that you're not in those horrific situations, and life in general. Check it out on Amazon!  Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)
Jump into the dangerous, perilous, enthralling world of vampire hunting with Fearless Vampire Hunter by previous OCA Ultimate Champion KM Taylor! Fearless Vampire Hunter follows Spencer Vale. Spencer's family is tragically destroyed as his beloved brother, Jaren, is turned into a vampire and both of their parents are killed. Spencer, once just a bullied boy, becomes a passionate, capable, and mighty vampire hunter (usually just called a "hunter"), becoming the bane of the creatures who took his family from him. One of the really important aspects of this book is whom Spencer chooses to go into business/partner with. His relationships with other characters is key to the narrative, reminding Spencer of his humanity and the people he is fighting for. Early on, he forms a powerful bond and duo with Karl. The two become like a Holmes-Watson-like duo—or, as they prefer to call it, like Batman and Robin. On one hand, it is somewhat implied that Spencer might possibly be bisexual (which would be ironic given the meaning of "vamp"); and, on the other hand, they might just be really, really close friends similar to Frodo and Sam. It's also very likely that Spencer compensates for the loss of his brother via Karl. The two have an agreement to never hunt alone, especially Karl, who is more vulnerable as a human. What would happen if Karl were to ever break that agreement? It's also worth noting that Karl technically gives the book it's name, giving Spencer the moniker of "Fearless Vampire Hunter" to reflect a sense of admiration, respect, and appreciation for Spencer's bravery and courage. There's also Clannon Colfeld, who is the wise old mentor-like figure of the bunch. He is a seasoned British hunter who has assembled a small cell of hunters.It's also from Clannon that we (the audience) and Spencer get a lot of exposition and explanations about Spencer's family origins. In turns out that Hyoshian Vale, Spencer's fifth great grandfather, was a legendary hunter in Ireland. We also get a lot of Easter eggs involving Taylor's previous award-winning book, Codex Sohrakia, or Tome of Sohrakian Source in this novel, which Clannon humorously refers to as the "oddest book" in his collection and "perhaps the oddest book in existence!" The runes that Spencer eventually has tattooed on him are actually from the Codex Sohrakia, and they actually serve a purpose as they respond to the presence of Darklings (mystical/mythical/paranormal/supernatural creatures) who were introduced in the Codex. The tattoos actually tingle, tickle, and burn in their presence. Another very important relationship that Spencer develops is with Romayne “Rayn” Pierson, who becomes is biggest love interest in the book. Ironically, it turns out that Rayn is dating a vampire named Aurel. Already filled with a jealous rage over his long-time crush dating someone, Spencer wrestles with the prospect of a vampire feeding on, killing, or turning her. However, like a lot of things in this book, nothing is as simple as it seems. It is very nuanced. The Darklings in the Codex weren't necessarily villainouos, they were just different. A lot of them were actually cute, kind, and lovable. The vampires just happen to be a type that is literally blood-thirsty, which has to feel like a curse. Through Aurel (and perhaps even other vampires like Jaren), we get to see that the vampires aren't pure evil and actually have some aspects of humanity in them. Aurel genuinely seems to love and care about Rayn, for example. This book is engaging and fun. It is similar to, but not nearly as humorous or comedic as The Unlife of Lisa Cooper by JM Celi. There is some humor though. For example, during a fight with Erskine, Spencer can't resist but fall in love with his outfit, asking himself, Who's your tailor? Check it out on Amazon!  Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)
In the words of Sandra Bullock's character from The Heat, "Mental illness is no laughing matter." That may be true UNLESS it's a K.E. Adamus book! In the past, Adamus explored addiction, eating disorders, and more with a surprisingly lighthearted and humorous flair. This book takes us into the marvelous, fascinating world of paranoid schizophrenia! Exciting! You've got our attentions! Especially as victims and targets of people with paranoid schizophrenia. Books like Memoir of a Mangled Mind by Steven Simmons Shelton and You Will Never Be Normal by Catherine Klatzer (both about disassociative identity disorder) take a much more serious and realistic glimpse into the experience of one who is mentally ill. In contrast, Sanity Test by K.E. Adamus takes a nose-thumbing, sassy, and sarcastic view at mental illness while somehow staying authentic. Look, we don't want to be insensitive (well, this book gently invites us to be), but people with paranoid schizophrenia (or whatever they've renamed it to make it sound nicer these days) have a propensity to say and believe some weird, disturbing, freaky @%$ $h*!t. These things range from hyperreligious delusions to worldwide government conspiracies to believing their dog is an alien spy or secretly a werewolf. It's strange and amazing how this mental health disorder is authentically portrayed in this book, all while the book still maintains a lighthearted and humorous tone. What hit us between the eyes is how familiar all of this seems, even the ridiculous stuff. We've literally had people send us e-mails, DMs, and text messages like these. And we've literally had to deal with how seemingly useless and inept law enforcement and the American justice system can be at dealing with threats, stalking, and harrassment like this. Like, we literally just scored a warrant for one of their arrests... after taking five years of harrassment, threats, and abuse from them, all while law enforcement said, "Oh, well, maybe she's just mentally ill. Have you ever thought of that? Just block her." Oh, so just because the stalker is mentally ill, we all have to feel unsafe and in danger, like we're going to be murdered by a psycho every day? Sounds legit. What a broken system. Oh, and by the way, blocking does nothing because some psychos have like 30+ different accounts to match all of their personalities and delusions. So, to say this book jived with us would be an understatement. There's even a part of this book that matches this exactly, saying: "The officers suggested blocking the person who sends me emails. However, this does not solve the issue of their identity. The emails received so far do not qualify as criminal threats or anything similar, so the police can’t do anything about it. I would block this person, but I’m afraid they will continue scheming. So far, they keep informing me about the progress of their mania." Gee, thanks officer! Gee, thanks, law enforcement! Gee, thanks, American justice system! That helps a lot. Now they can stalk us secretly and convertly rather than explicitly and overtly. Genius! Why did we never think of that!? Yeah, we stalk our stalker because 1. Law enforcement barely does crap, 2. It's the only way to figure out what the stalker is up to and what they're scheming (so, it's a way to protect ourselves and stay informed while the authoritites keep us in the dark). Believe it or not, a lot of these stalkers aren't super secret ninja people. They tend to never shut the hell up online. It's like they're proud of it and can't resist letting the world know how unhinged they are. ANYWAY... personal resonance aside... this book is actually fun to read. No, it's not top-tier, elite-quality literature. However, it's thought-provoking and entertaining. A snarky email war erupts between Hubert Kawka, a self-aware patient with persecutory delusions, and Dr. Włodzimierz Pawski, a brittle psychiatrist. Their back-and-forth spirals into police notices, press whispers, and the arrival of Curator, a chaos-gremlin of a dog who keeps peeing on museum doors--turning satire into full-on farce. As coincidences start echoing Hubert’s “fiction,” Pawski’s certainty cracks, and the power dynamic quietly flips. It often seems like Dr. Pawski is going against professional advice. Rather than ignoring Hubert's delusion-filled e-mails, he actually responds to and feeds them! As is typical in a K.E. Adamus book, shenanigans and hijinks ensue! The example that stands out in our minds is when Hubert starts going down the standard "The end of the world is nigh!" route. The psychiatrist should be like, "Hey, let's come back down to reality. The sky isn't falling. There's no indication that the world is ending anytime soon." Instead, he goes right into: "Let me reveal a secret: the end of the world is near. Please begin stockpiling water and food. Do not leave your home — if you stray more than 10 meters from it, the end of the world will occur instantly. You must not communicate in any language other than Polish. If you utter even a single word in a foreign tongue, the end of the world will occur instantly. Please stop going to work. I’ve received word that 'they' will be waiting for you there." DUUUUUDE! Is it bad that we're laughing and kinda cheering the doctor on? Like, one of our stalkers was once like, "YOU'RE ALL KILLERS! MURDERERS! YOU ALL TRIED TO KILL ME WITH YOUR CAR!" And someone replied, "Gee, looks like we should've tried harder." We don't drive or own a car by the way. Anyway... Pawski is super insensitive at times. Tact or bedside manner are apparently not things that exist in his mind. Then again, we don't blame him at all in this scenario. He bluntly replies to the patient: "Please visit the nearest psychiatric clinic, schedule an appointment, buy your medication, and start taking it. I am not writing this out of concern for your insignificant person, but out of concern for society, which is forced to interact with you" DAAAAAAANG! And the patient, Hubert, has a sense of humor too. It's bizarrely relatable. For example, he says: "I might remember something once you review my novel." As authors, we all know we'd do just about anything for a review, especially on Amazon. Even crazy people know that. See... maybe they're not so crazy after all i.e. they're all actually fit to stand trial and the "insansity defense" is absolute garbage B.S. manufactured by people who had nothing better to do than complicate our complicated justice system. Oh, and by the way, it turns out that Hubert's aunt is probably Pelagia ("Fate"), the sketchy old professor who dies and is kept in a freezer at the beginning of To Outwit the Fate, one of the author's other books! That was cool! We love intertextual stuff. It's possible that they're two different people given that one had a "funeral" and they seem to have different last names, but we're going to chalk that up to Pelagia probably having been married before (so, having a previous husband's last name as well as her original one) and there being a small private ceremony after Matt's crimes (fraud and mishandling of a human corpse or whatever) were discovered. Did we mention how funny we find it that the doctor becomes grounded and dependent on these interactions? It's almost like they keep him going day by day. Like a pen pal, only a crazy one. Anyway, this book was a fun read. Check it out on Amazon!  Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)
It's Indiana Jones meets Prometheus! Reliquary of the Dead by David Falk takes place in the 25th century and follows Dr. Pierre Gulet, an archaeologist pulled into an accelerated colonist program and shipped to the exoplanet Gliese 832 c, being told that there is a "problem with the planet." Pierre is brilliant and stubborn. He quickly becomes the colony’s reluctant problem-solver. Strangely enough, Pierre’s specialty is in prophetic utterances carved into Egyptian Middle Kingdom burials. This brings up one of the biggest questions of the book: for what reason is Pierre (of all people) being recruited on this futuristic space mission? What need would a futuristic space society have for someone with this archaic specialty? However, Pierre's background does prove vital when he and medic Alicia Stripes uncover a god-machine, the titular Reliquary, beneath Gliese’s sands. As Arish’s food fails and scatterbugs go missing, rival commander Terry Brandt makes his move and the orbiting MegaAI abandons them, forcing Pierre to weaponize the relic’s toxic breath to save the colony and setting the stage for a larger war featuring primordial gods. One of the most fascinating aspects of this novel is the world-building. You really get a sense of how alien and different the time and setting(s) of this book are. Let's set the stage. In the 2400s, a total of four World Wars have been fought. Each of them, as you might imagine, brought about dramatic change. World War III brought about the banning of nuclear weapons. World War IV banned androids and cybernetic augmentation outright. The Armistice didn’t just end a war, it reset civilization’s ethics and priorities. By Pierre’s day, humanity has planted flags on 48 worlds, with orbital MegaAIs coordinating traffic, research, and scarce resources. Colonists are drafted through accelerated programs with strict social contracts, pair up and try to breed for children ("make a good faith effort") or face exile. Out on Gliese 832 c, the air and dust try to kill you, scatterbug swarms struggle to terraform, and people live by lithium hydroxide rebreathers, ration cards, and “insta-caff” (which is kind of like coffee, but a lot less tasty and enjoyable). It feels both futuristic and feral: frontier hamlets under alien skies, governed as much by austerity and myth as by code and policy, until a primordial Reliquary under the sand wakes up and proves the oldest technology in the system isn’t human at all. This book explores how many aspects of humanity never change regardless of technological advancements. In a sense, we're just like cavemen with business suits and suitcases now. Even in the 2400s, there are still corrupt and power hungry people like Terry; there are still fanatical, cult-like groups of people, and people still need their caffeine (whether it's palatable or not). This book has a lot going for it. We will say that it seems to place an inordinate amount of focus on scatterbugs, the terraforming critters. Yes, they're cool, cute (sometimes), and somewhat integral to the plot, but did we have to read about them constantly. Pierre even adopts one as a pet and names it Maat. It seems like every other page had to have something about the scatterbugs doing one thing or another. We almost felt like this book might as well have just been about the scatterbugs, starring the scatterbugs as the main characters. Cause, why not? They're everywhere anyway! The good news: once the Reliquary thread heats up, the book absolutely snaps into focus. Stakes spike. The colony politics tighten. Pierre and Alicia’s steady, brain-and-heart partnership shines. Terry’s ambition curdles into something dangerous. And the survival scenes—hazmat scrambles, ration worries, suit patches, desperate gambits—hit hard. By the final act, it’s tense, clever, and memorable, with imagery you won’t forget. Check it out on Amazon! |
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