science fiction

NPR’s Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books

| Tasha

From a group of titles nominated and then voted on by over 60,000 people, here are the top 10 titles in NPR’s Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy books.  You can click here to see the entire Top 100 list. 

My biggest gripe with the top titles are that there is not a single female author in the bunch.  The first female author appears at #20 and is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.  That is followed closely by Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.  But then there is another large gap until Anne McCaffrey appears at #33 with Dragonflight.

I know it was a democratic voting process, but I still think it shows how dominant male writers are in sci fi and fantasy despite such amazing female authors.  Sigh.  We have a long way to go!

Note:  the list does not include horror or teen books, but teen readers enjoy fantasy and science fiction for adults, so I thought the list still had a place here on my blog.

Top 10

   

1. Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

3. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

   

4. The Dune Chronicles by Frank Herbert

5. A Song of Ice and Fire Series by George R. R. Martin

6. 1984 by George Orwell

7. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

  

8. The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov

9. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

10. American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Book Review: Clunk to Earth by Pam Smallcomb

| Tasha

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Earth to Clunk by Pam Smallcomb, pictures by Joe Berger

What do you do when you get assigned a pen pal named Clunk who is from the planet Quazar?  Well, first you make sure to send him something you won’t miss at all, like your big sister.  Of course, he’ll send something back too, a Zoid that won’t stop following you.  Then send him socks, dirty ones.  That’ll teach him.  You’ll get back Forps in return, they look kind of like striped socks and smell like dog food.  You could try to confuse it by sending all sorts of odd things together, but beware of the confusion he will send back.  Unfortunately, he may not like having your sister there and may send her back.  Happily, the gob of goo he sent back with her will taste like ice cream.  Perhaps it’s time to invite him for a sleepover?

Smallcomb uses just the right tone here to add to the humor.  Her flat tone plays up the silly nature of the entire story, treating the alien piece of the story as if it were just a neighboring state that the boy is exchanging items with.  The strange items he receives are also treated the same way.

Because of the flat nature of the writing, Berger’s illustrations have to pop and carry the true nature of what is happening.  They definitely are successful in depicting the strange things that are going on.  I particularly enjoyed that the Zoid and Forps continue to hang around in the book, watch out for the striped burp from the Zoid!  Berger’s art has a classic feel that also adds to the humor of this space-age story.

A great science fiction picture book that will have children longing for their own pen pal from Quazar.  Appropriate for ages 4-8.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books for Young Readers.

Also reviewed by You Know, For Kids.

Book Review: Hourglass by Myra McEntire

| Tasha

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Hourglass by Myra McEntire

Emerson wants to be cured more than anything!  That way she can stop seeing the ghosts around her and start being normal.  The visions have plagued her since before her parents’ death but now they seem to be getting larger and one, who calls himself Jack, even talks directly to her.  So when her brother hires another consultant to try to cure her, Emerson agrees.  She didn’t expect to find a consultant who is not only completely hot, but who also understands her situation so completely.  As Emerson finds herself electrically drawn to the dark, mysterious Michael, she also wonders about the mysterious Hourglass organization he works for.  This mysterious, romantic and paranormal read mixes science fiction and fantasy into our modern world.

The cover on this book captured me immediately.  Happily, the gorgeous cover and its unusual feel work very well for the book.  The book has the same sort of modern but off-kilter beauty about it.  Though this is McIntire’s debut novel, it never feels that way.  She has created a book that has a maturity about it, especially in its world building and its characters.

Emerson is a very strong protagonist who is petite, powerful and gifted.  Her sarcasm elevates the book with its humor, keeping it modern and fresh.   Emerson is flawed too, very aware of her own fragility after her parents’ death, and never willing to share more than she has to with people.  Readers will relate to her effortlessly.

The world McEntire has created is our own but features people with unusual gifts.  While some of the gifts are only hinted at, others come only to full fruition when shared with others.  It creates a world of power but only when people work together.  In this way, it pushes Emerson personally to see if she will be willing to be that open.  The tension this creates is inherent to the success of the novel.

In a market filled with paranormal novels, this is one that you should definitely find time for.  It’s a gripping, mysterious read filled with plenty of romance.  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from copy received from Egmont.

Also reviewed by many other blogs.

Book Review: Enclave by Ann Aguirre

| Tasha

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Enclave by Ann Aguirre

Deuce lives underground in her enclave where life expectancy is short and live is brutal.  From the time she was a brat, she knew that she wanted to be a Huntress.  Now that she is 15, she goes through the naming ceremony and is given the role of Huntress in her community.  It is her job, along with her partner, to protect the enclave from the strange beings, Freaks, that share their underground world.  Deuce is paired with Fade, a Hunter who was not born in the enclave, but found wandering underground.  As Deuce learns more about their society, she begins to question the enclave’s rules and the injustices she sees.  When she sacrifices herself to save a friend, Deuce is thrown out of the safety of her community and forced to survive with just Fade to help her.

The strength of this book was in the underground world, the enclave and its lies, the brutality of the life, the unquestioning people, the darkness and danger.  The world Aguirre created underground is compelling and intriguing.  Deuce’s character is equally successful.  She is a strong heroine whose weakness is ignorance thanks to the enclave.  She experiences real growth as a character as she learns the truth.

Unfortunately, the book does not stay underground.  When Deuce and her partner head to Topside to survive, the book loses some of its strength as well as its unique society and setting.  For me, the book seemed to drag despite the high level of violence.

But for me, worst of all was that the world building that worked so well underground began to fall apart.  The Topside misuse of women angered me, but even worse was the insistence that one of the raped women accept one of the gang as a compatriot in their travels.  That she had to let her repeated rapes go and learn to cope seemed to trivialize rape and survival at the same time.

Readers of dystopian fantasy may enjoy this series, but I will stop reading with this first book.  Appropriate for ages 15-18.

Reviewed from copy received from Feiwel and Friends.

Also reviewed by:

Wither: Surprising, Exceptional Dystopian

| Tasha

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Wither by Lauren DeStefano

In future America thanks to genetic manipulation that went wrong, people have a very short and specific lifetime.  Women live until they are 20, men until they are 25.  Society has collapsed with science turning toward trying to save the human race.  In this world, girls are stolen from the streets and kidnapped to become wives and keep the population up.  Rhine is a girl who is taken and survives the selection process.  Now she is forced into a polygamous marriage to a very wealthy man.  She is trapped with her sister wives in a mansion; her cage is beautiful and sumptuous but it is still a cage.  Rhine tries to think only of her escape, but it is made difficult as she begins to form relationships with her fellow prisoners, a handsome servant, and her husband.  This book explores uncertainty, love, desperation and strength.

DeStefano’s writing is what elevates this book above other dystopian fantasies.  Her phrasing is subtle and natural, occasionally turning poetic to make a stronger point or present an important event.  Her plotting is masterful.  In a book where much of the time is spent waiting for action, the story never lags or disappoints.  It is a book of quiet desperation not only for Rhine but for the entire society. 

The world building here is particularly exquisite.  There is just enough of the science background given to make the story work.  The real beauty is in the exploration of the effects of the situation, the revealing of a society in decay, the division of wealth and poverty, the allure of a life at ease in a world like this.  It all adds up to a very powerful statement about our current society.

The characterizations are also beautifully done.  From Rhine, the brave heroine who tells the story in first person present tense, allowing readers to figure out what is happening right along with her.  The sister wives are as different from one another as can be, each of them unique and human, each a character worthy of her own book.  Then there is the complexity of the husband, Linden, a man who could have been portrayed as a monster.  Instead he is a man with a background that formed him, a love for others, and who is haunted by loss. 

Ideal for fans of dystopian science fiction, this unique book will have readers unable to put it down and begging to know when the next book in the series is coming out.  Appropriate for ages 15-18.

 

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster.

Also reviewed by:

Zita the Spacegirl: A Girl-Powered Graphic Novel

| Tasha

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Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke

This is a great graphic novel for elementary readers who will enjoy the action and the science fiction setting.  Zita and her friend Joseph see a meteoroid fall to earth.  When Zita looks closely, she sees that there is something embedded in the meteoroid.  It looks like a red button and despite her friend’s protests, she presses it.  Immediately, a rift opens and sucks Joseph through it.  After some moments of panic, Zita presses the button again and heads through the rift to rescue her friend.  On the other side of the rift, Joseph is being dragged away by a strange multi-armed alien who flies off with him in a space ship.  Now Zita is left alone in a strange world filled with amazing creatures.  Unfortunately, it’s a world about to be destroyed by a giant asteroid.   How is Zita going to be able to save her friend before the planet is demolished?

Hatke is a great storyteller.  Zita is a friendly, determined and strong girl character, who remains solidly the heroine of her story.  Through his friendly illustrations Hatke has created a world that makes one feel at home despite its strangeness.  The adventure here is thrilling, dangerous and great fun.  As Zita adventures through the world, readers will enjoy the humor of different characters.  Hatke embraces nuanced characters as well, which is a treat in a graphic novel for children.

The illustrations here have an anime appeal to them.  Young fans of Pokemon will feel right at home with the variety of creatures that Zita meets. 

This is one of those great graphic novels that belongs in every library collection.  Sure to check out and be very popular, just face this one out and watch it check out of the library.  Appropriate for ages 8-12.

To get a sense of the illustrations, you can view the video below:

Zita the Spacegirl Trailer

Reviewed from copy received from First Second.

Also reviewed by:

The Literate Mother

Little Lamb Books

Perpetual Learner

Across the Universe: Stellar Science Fiction

| Tasha

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Across the Universe by Beth Revis

What a pleasure to read some great science fiction for teens!  At age 17, Amy joins her parents on the trip of a lifetime, or many lifetimes, as they are frozen for a voyage of 300 years to a colonize a new planet.   Flash ahead several hundred years and the ship Godspeed that carries the frozen bodies has created its own society over the centuries.  16-year-old Elder is the next leader of the ship, chosen from when he was an infant to lead.  He has been raised and taught by Eldest, the current leader.  But something is going wrong.  There are secrets everywhere he turns, and no one will give him the answers he needs to be the next Eldest.  To make things worse, someone has begun attacking the frozen people, and it just might be the people Elder trusts most.  This taut thriller of a novel marries mystery, science fiction and romance into a gripping read.

Revis has written a genre-bending novel that will attract many different types of readers.  Her building of the world inside the ship is amazing in its attention to detail.  The complexities of this small world flying through space are solid and fascinating.  Readers will slowly come to understand the secret horrors of life aboard the ship and are guaranteed feel claustrophobic as the metal walls seem to close in. 

Amy is a heroine with plenty of spunk and attitude.  Elder is a more subtle hero, filled with self-doubt and sometimes self-loathing, he is a complex character who has been living with lies entire life.  It is Elder that is the amazing creation in this novel.  A boy who is destined to lead but doesn’t see how. 

I do have one quibble with the book, but it comes so close to the end that I don’t want to ruin the novel for anyone.  It was one twist too many for me and a breaking of literary conventions.  I came away frustrated by the ending but blown away by the novel itself.

An enticing blend of genres, this book would be an ideal book talk choice for librarians looking for a title that will appeal to most teens.  It has an amazing opening chapter that makes it impossible to put down.  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from copy received from Penguin.

Sapphique: A Stunning Sequel

| Tasha

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Sapphique by Catherine Fisher

Published December 28, 2010.

This stunning sequel to the amazing Incarceron continues the story set in motion in the first volume.  Finn has escaped the prison of Incarceron and has discovered that the Outside is not what he expected at all.   His identity as the lost prince is called into question when another young man appears claiming that he is the prince.  The other person certainly seems more princely than Finn, who struggles with his continuing blackouts and still has no memory of his time before waking up in Incarceron.  Claudia, the warden’s daughter, also questions her own beliefs about Finn.  Could it be that he is not the prince after all?  And meanwhile in the prison, Keiro and Attia are trying to find their own way to escape.  And they just may have found it in the Glove.  That is if the glove they have is the real magical glove that Sapphique once wore.  But Incarceron itself wants the glove too, so they must battle with weapons and wits to find their way out, if there even is a way to escape the prison of Incarceron.

An exciting mix of fantasy and science fiction, this book really built on the first in the series.  Fisher has built a world that is clever and amazing.  Her living prison is frighteningly real, and the violence and danger are heart-poundingly close at times.  Fisher continues to expand on the world that she brought to life in the first book.  The pleasure here is seeing even more of her world.  Nicely, she does not deviate from what was put forth in the first book.  This is an expansion of her original vision not a rewriting of the world, which is done in far too many fantasy sequels. 

Fisher’s characters are also well drawn.  She has created heroes that are human, contrasted starkly with those in power who don’t understand that things are changing both in the prison and Outside.  Finn is a magnificent hero, crowned with royalty and yet questioning his role, his sudden turn of fortunes, and his allegiances.  Keiro continues to be as arrogant and unlikeable as ever, yet he does grow on the reader.  Attia and Claudia are heroines with backbone and plenty of great ideas.  They are more alike than the male characters are, since Claudia has become less haughty and Attia has grown in confidence. 

There are some pacing issues in the first half of the book.  The final half sails and flies past, with the final hundred pages racing by at breakneck pace.  I could not turn the pages fast enough.  The first half was slower and less gripping.  The story is wonderfully deep and that layered complex storytelling does lead to slower pacing.  I just wish it had been more consistent throughout.

I must also mention the attention to detail throughout the book.  The legends of Sapphique are well built and fascinating, including the paragraphs that start each chapter.  Drawn from documents, they purport to be snippets of conversations about Sapphique and Incarceron.  The synopses of the cobbled together books that the inmates of Incarceron refer to are also a delightful glimpse at what our fairy tales and legends could become if mashed up.  These and other small moments round out the building of the world.

Highly recommended, this is a wonderful and very worthy sequel to the first.  I keep waiting for this series to launch the way that Hunger Games did, perhaps the time will be right with this second book.  In any case, it will delight fans of The Hunger Games, so get it into their hands.  Appropriate for ages 13-16.

Reviewed from ARC received from Penguin.

Check out the trailer:

Behemoth

| Tasha

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Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

This second book in the Leviathan trilogy continues the riveting steampunk story.   Deryn, a girl masquerading as a boy in the British Air Service, serves aboard an immense living ship called the Leviathan.  Alek, the heir to the Austrian-Hungarian empire, is masquerading as a commoner aboard the same airship.  The two of them are fast friends, though both are hiding their true identity from one another.  Now the Leviathan and her crew find themselves up against an amazing new weapon wielded by the German forces: a Tesla cannon that fires electricity.  Driven to Istanbul to shelter and resupply, the Leviathan must finish its business in only 24 hours before she will be forced to leave.  Alek and his protectors are desperate to leave the Leviathan while there, hoping to disappear to safety off of the ship.  But things never go as planned, including Deryn’s covert mission to open an access way for the behemoth monster to attack.   A brilliant setting for Westerfeld’s novel, Istanbul offers a spicy new space to further explore the wondrous world he has created in this series.

Westerfeld is one of those authors where readers can simply relax, knowing they are in good hands.  He is a skilled world builder, where his vision is clear, detailed and beautifully rendered.  I love the interplay of the steampunk with the Darwinist beasties, a natural tension that really works as a framework for war.  He also excels at creating characters who are deeper than expected and richly drawn.  Deryn is a strong female character who belays off of airships without hesitation, rescues others with ingenuity, and puts herself in harms way as only a hero can.  Yet she is also bothered by regrets, first love, and the horrors of war.  Alek too is a well-drawn hero, a great counterpart to Deryn.  He is highly educated, very bright, and a natural problem-solver and mech driver.  What a pleasure to have a book with two such heroes side-by-side.

Make sure that you have read Leviathan before picking up this second book.  This is a trilogy in every sense of the word.  Westerfeld does a find job of bringing readers who may have read Leviathan awhile ago up to speed with the world and the story again.  It is handled in a subtle way so that readers enjoying them back-to-back will not be bothered at all. 

Highly recommended, this book is a great second part of the trilogy.  Get it into the hands of happy fans and convert new fans to this amazing blend of fantasy and science fiction.  Appropriate for ages 12-15.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon Pulse.

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