Bookshelf Roundup: 12/11/21: Stacking the Shelves & Recent Reads
Posted on December 11, 2021 8 Comments
Bookshelf Roundup is a feature I do every weekend which fills the role of several blog memes, like Stacking the Shelves where I talk about the new books I’ve added to my library or received for review, as well as It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? where I summarize what I’ve finished reading in the last week and what I’m planning to read soon. Mostly it also serves as a recap post, so sometimes I’ll throw in stuff like reading challenge progress reports, book lists, and other random bookish thoughts or announcements.
Between work, holiday preparations, and installing a new backsplash by ourselves, it has been a hell of a week and I didn’t really get much reading or reviewing done, but hey, at least my kitchen looks great! December has traditionally been my catchup month anyway though, which is nice because I get to choose my mood reads. In the next few weeks, I should also be putting together some end-of-year lists which I always love to do, so that should be fun. So with that out of the way, let’s see what’s been hitting my mailbox and inbox.
Received for Review
My thanks to the publishers and authors for the following review copies received, and be sure to click the links to their Goodreads pages for more details and full descriptions!
First, with thanks to HarperCollins Publishers for an ARC of Midnight in Everwood by M.A. Kuzniar. This one was new to me, but as soon as I read the book’s description of a debut Christmas historical and magical fairy tale retelling of the The Nutcracker, I knew I had to read it! A perfect one to curl up with this winter holiday.
I was also very excited to receive an ARC of Sundial by Catriona Ward, with thanks to the Nightfire team. The author has already taken the horror genre by storm with The Last House on Needless Street which was a real head trip, and I’m sure her new one will be a wild one as well.
From the kind folks at Aladdin, I was also grateful to received an ARC of the middle grade novel City Spies: Forbidden City by James Ponti. This is the third book of the series but it can be read as a standalone, and my daughter actually has the first book so she might even get to it before I do!
Also thank you to Angry Robot for a review copy of Bluebird by Ciel Pierlot which I’m seeing around being described as a queer space western complete with gunslingers and outlaws. Now that sounds pretty cool.
Finally, with thanks to Orbit Books for an ARC of The City of Dusk by Tara Sim. This fantasy novel of bone and shadow magic sounds like a gorgeous read, and it’s been one I’ve had my attention on for a long time!
In the digital haul, with thanks to HarperAudio for a listening copy of My Darling Husband by Kimberly Belle. I definitely need my thriller fix each time! My thanks also to Listening Library for an ALC of Echoes of Empires by Morgan Rhodes, who also wrote the Falling Kingdoms YA series that I enjoyed. I’m really intrigued by this start of a new duology. And last but not least, from the publisher I also received a listening copy of Evershore by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson, the third and final installment of the Skyward novellas series.
Reviews
The Bone Shard Emperor by Andrea Stewart (4 of 5 stars)
You Sexy Thing by Cat Rambo (3 of 5 stars)
What I’ve Been Reading
Have you heard of or read any of the books featured this week? What caught your eye? Any new discoveries? I hope you found something interesting for a future read!
Friday Face-Off: A Fairy Tale Retold
Posted on December 10, 2021 8 Comments
Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a weekly meme created by Books by Proxy! Each Friday, we will pit cover against cover while also taking the opportunity to showcase gorgeous artwork and feature some of our favorite book covers. If you want to join the fun, simply choose a book each Friday that fits that week’s predetermined theme, post and compare two or more different covers available for that book, then name your favorite. A list of future weeks’ themes are available at Lynn’s Book Blog.
This week’s theme is:
~ a cover of A FAIRY TALE RETOLD
All The Ever Afters by Danielle Teller
You know me, I love a good fairy tale retelling, especially those reimagined from the villain’s point of view. Though in All the Ever Afters, which retells the story of Cinderella from the point-of-view of the “evil stepmother”, it’s really hard to see the main protagonist as a true villain. And despite this novel being a fairy tale retelling, it actually contains few elements of fantasy, choosing to go the historical fiction route instead. Still, I have to say the all covers for this book are still quite magical.
From left to right:
William Morrow (2018) – Hungarian Edition (2018) – French Edition (2020)
Winner:
Three different covers featuring three different approaches, though all of them incorporate some of the same related imagery and themes (the Hungarian edition also appears to have borrowed a picture of Disney’s Cinderella Castle). My favorite one is the William Morrow edition, which incorporates the title text into a beautiful, classic design!
But what do you think? Which one is your favorite?
Book Review: You Sexy Thing by Cat Rambo
Posted on December 9, 2021 8 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Mogsy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Book 1/Stand Alone
Publisher: Tor Books (November 16, 2021)
Length: 320 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
At the edge of the known universe sits TwiceFar station, home to Niko Larson, formerly of the Grand Military of the Hive Mind, who has left admiralship to start a restaurant business. Together with her kitchen crew of mostly fellow ex-Hivemind members, they’ve built quite a name for themselves out of the Last Chance, even if they are pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. Which is why, when rumors start floating around that the renowned food critic might be on their way for a visit, Niko knows how a good review could make all the difference.
As the story begins, Niko’s entire staff is working around the clock preparing for the critic’s arrival. At the very last minute though, the surprise arrival of a glitzy playboy in his sleek, fancy, state-of-the-art and absurdly expensive bioship called the You Sexy Thing throws a wrench into their plans. Normally, Niko would have turned him away, but the playboy also happens to be a big fan of the food critic who is coming and is willing to pay big bucks to share a meal with her, and with the amount he’s offering, Niko could hardly refuse…what could go wrong anyway?
Well, as it turns out, a lot. For scarcely after their esteemed guests have been seated, an explosion rocks TwiceFar, killing many on the station including the playboy. Before his death, however, Niko had managed to gain the passcodes to his bioship, You Sexy Thing, which she and her crew ends up using to escape. Unfortunately though, this feisty sentient ship has other plans. Believing its new passengers to be thieves, it programs a path to a prison planet instead, where Niko and her friends would be promptly arrested upon their arrival.
First, I just have the say, there was a good story here, but the execution? Not so smooth. From the start, the pacing was wonky, spending too much time on the intro with the Last Chance’s preparations for the food critic, which dragged on far longer than required. Then the action starts, Niko and her crew run afoul of space pirates, and to the plot’s credit, there’s some very interesting albeit bitter history there between the protagonist and the head pirate Tubal.
Still, at this point, I just didn’t know what this book was trying to be. Was it supposed to be a lighthearted, ensemble cast-type space adventure akin to Wayfarers or Firefly? If so, that impression gets blasted away by the later sections, some of which are filled with over-the-top and offputtingly brutal torture scenes. The villain is almost a caricature, as in, short of wearing a sign around his neck that says, “Look at me, look how diabolically evil I am, muahahaha!” you can’t get more obvious that he’s supposed to be a very bad guy who does very bad things. Then there was Petalia, a former lover of Niko’s, whose rancor made me go from thoroughly enjoying myself with this book to being extremely annoyed. Granted, given what she’d been through, I understood her resentment, but it was a shame that the handling of her behaviors and attitude was just so one-dimensional and contrived.
That said, I did love Niko and her mostly alien crew. In their relationships and the diversity, I could see and understand the comparisons to Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series, not to mention that really cool element of food or love of cooking that ties them all together. My favorite character other than Niko was probably her head chef Dabry, whose loyalty to her in one particular scene near the end of the book where he gives Petalia a piece of his mind was particularly touching and literally made me do a jumping fist pump in the air. And finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the titular bioship, whose chapters added a different, “living A.I.” perspective to shake things up.
Bottom line, I think You Sexy Thing has a lot going for it, among them a core group of likeable characters and an adventurous storyline. What hurts it the most, however, is a combination of questionable pacing and lack of focus. I still had a good time with the book, mainly because there are certain unique aspects to it that I don’t think you can get anywhere else, but on the whole I think this falls pretty squarely in the “standard sci-fi space opera” category, which means that if you are a more avid reader of the genre, you’re going to need more.
Waiting on Wednesday 12/08/21
Posted on December 8, 2021 8 Comments
Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme that first originated at Breaking the Spine but has since linked up with “Can’t Wait Wednesday” at Wishful Endings now that the original creator is unable to host it anymore. Either way, this fun feature is a chance to showcase the upcoming releases that we can’t wait to get our hands on!
Mogsy’s Pick
In the Shadow of Lightning by Brian McClellan (June 21, 2022 by Tor)
I know Brian McCLellan mostly from his Powder Mage books, so it’s definitely fascinating to me that he’s starting a series set in a brand new fantasy world which sounds quite different but very cool!
“From Brian McClellan, author of The Powder Mage, comes In the Shadow of Lightning, a brand-new epic fantasy where magic is a finite resource—and it’s running out.
Demir Grappo is an outcast—he fled a life of wealth and power, abandoning his responsibilities as a general, a governor, and a son. Now he will live out his days as a grifter, rootless, and alone. But when his mother is brutally murdered, Demir must return from exile to claim his seat at the head of the family and uncover the truth that got her killed: the very power that keeps civilization turning, godglass, is running out.
Now, Demir must find allies, old friends and rivals alike, confront the powerful guild-families who are only interested in making the most of the scraps left at the table and uncover the invisible hand that threatens the Empire. A war is coming, a war unlike any other. And Demir and his ragtag group of outcasts are the only thing that stands in the way of the end of life as the world knows it.”
Book Review: The Bone Shard Emperor by Andrea Stewart
Posted on December 6, 2021 12 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
The Bone Shard Emperor by Andrea Stewart
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Book 2 of The Drowning Empire
Publisher: Orbit (November 23, 2021)
Length: 560 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Following on the heels of The Bone Shard Daughter comes its sequel The Bone Shard Emperor, continuing the saga of the Phoenix Empire. Please note that my review may contain spoilers for the previous novel if aren’t yet caught up, as the story picks up almost immediately after we last saw our characters. In terms of POVs, we have more or less the same ones from the first book, beginning with Lin, who has become Emperor since the death of her father. As a new leader, she is untested and faced with skepticism from her subjects, and it doesn’t help that most of them don’t trust her, expecting her to be as tyrannical as her late father.
To the hold her empire together, Lin must put on a show of strength to deter any challenges to her reign. Still, that’s easier said than done. Even as rebels in the northeast gather their forces in an attempt to dethrone her, elsewhere there are murmurings that the powerful magicians of old called the Alanga have returned. And then there are the mysterious sinking islands, a persistent problem to which no one knows the answer. Panic is building, however, as every citizen is afraid that their island may be the next to fall and drown.
When it comes to allies though, Lin feels fortunate to have at least a couple in her corner. One of them is Jovis, a wily vagabond who had been promoted to her Captain of the Guard. But while the former smuggler has taken well to his position and is extremely good at what he does, Lin is unaware that he is also hiding a secret, one that could threaten her rule even as the two of them grow closer. And finally, on one of the larger, more influential islands, we have Phalue and Ranami. The couple has thrived ever since Phalue took over as governor from her father, and yet, even after all they’ve done to improve conditions for their residents, the future of their home remains uncertain.
First things first: while I didn’t think The Bone Shard Emperor was quite as good as its predecessor, it was still very enjoyable read. As a sequel and the middle book of a trilogy, it accomplished its goal of carrying the series’ momentum while keeping the reader’s attention. I liked how the author built upon existing threads, layering the plot with more intrigue, more conflict, but still managed to stay on point, keeping the narrative tight and moving quickly.
But at the end of the day, it was the characters who stole the show. More specifically, I was impressed with Lin and the way she handled herself in this book. Her journey undoubtedly provided the driving force behind this novel, the fact that she was presented with obstacles every step of the way, yet she never once succumbed to the adversity or took the easy way out. I was also pleasantly surprised at the growing relationship between Lin and Jovis. Admittedly, this particular development was something I vaguely suspected with book one, but I was still unprepared to see it play out the way it did here, and that I didn’t hate it!
That said, there were other character relationships that I felt were weaker, and once again I didn’t find myself as compelled by the chapters featuring Phalue and Ranami. Of course, it didn’t help that Ranami’s emotional manipulation was extremely off-putting to me in the first book, to the extent that I don’t think I can ever truly warm up to her, or perhaps it simply comes down to having less interest in their storyline, especially when compared to Lin’s.
Ultimately though, it’s pretty clear that Andrea Stewart has a plan and is building up to something big, and if that means certain characters had to take a backseat while others stepped up, then that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. Bottom line, I enjoyed how The Bone Shard Emperor added to the series arc by giving us more of what made the first book so strong—flawed but genuine characters, unique world-building, and high stakes. I’m curious to see how the trilogy will conclude.
More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of The Bone Shard Daughter (Book 1)
Bookshelf Roundup: 12/04/21: Stacking the Shelves & Recent Reads
Posted on December 4, 2021 21 Comments
Bookshelf Roundup is a feature I do every weekend which fills the role of several blog memes, like Stacking the Shelves where I talk about the new books I’ve added to my library or received for review, as well as It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? where I summarize what I’ve finished reading in the last week and what I’m planning to read soon. Mostly it also serves as a recap post, so sometimes I’ll throw in stuff like reading challenge progress reports, book lists, and other random bookish thoughts or announcements.
Received for Review
My thanks to the publishers and authors for the following review copies received, and be sure to click the links to their Goodreads pages for more details and full descriptions!
It’s been another interesting week of books in the mailbox. From the amazing folks at Orbit, I received a finished copy of Discordia by Kristyn Merbeth, the third book of Nova Vita Protocol series. Of course, despite the best laid plans I was unable to get to the second book during Sci-Fi Month so it’ll take me just a tad longer to get to this one, but I’m glad I have the full trilogy now. From the publisher I also received The Liar’s Knot by M.A. Carrick, sequel to The Mast of Mirrors. I quite enjoyed the first book, so I’m looking forward to continuing this series
With thanks to Minotaur Books I also received an ARC of The Resting Place by Camilla Sten. As you might recall, earlier this spring I had a great time with her novel The Lost Village and this one promises to be even creepier! Very excited to dive right in.
And thank you to the Nightfire team for sending along an ARC of Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. I read his book Hex a few years ago and I’ve been wanting to read more by him ever since. I also happen to be a big fan of horror stories set in remote places, so this one sounds right up my alley.
In the digital haul, with thanks to Simon & Schuster Audio for providing me with a listening copy of The Veiled Throne by Ken Liu, book three of The Dandelion Dynasty. Feels like I’ve been waiting for this one forever, I can’t believe it’s finally here! Though, I think I might need a little refresher to remind me where things are at. From the publisher I also received a review copy of Roxy by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman, which was a relatively new discovery for me, but after reading this speculative YA thriller’s summary and its themes exploring the opioid crisis and drug addiction, I decided it was definitely worth a look.
Reviews
Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Ella Cosimano (4.5 of 5 stars)
Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson (3.5 of 5 stars)
Roundup Highlights:
What I’ve Been Reading
Have you heard of or read any of the books featured this week? What caught your eye? Any new discoveries? I hope you found something interesting for a future read!
Friday Face-Off: Windswept
Posted on December 3, 2021 13 Comments
Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a weekly meme created by Books by Proxy! Each Friday, we will pit cover against cover while also taking the opportunity to showcase gorgeous artwork and feature some of our favorite book covers. If you want to join the fun, simply choose a book each Friday that fits that week’s predetermined theme, post and compare two or more different covers available for that book, then name your favorite. A list of future weeks’ themes are available at Lynn’s Book Blog.
This week’s theme is:
“The classic figure, stood majestically, with wind blowing out in a fetching way”
~ a WINDSWEPT cover
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
Since one of my favorite tropes in fantasy is “books about books”, that was immediately a point in this novel’s favor! Protagonist Elisabeth Scrivener was abandoned on the doorstep of the Great Library of Summershall when she was just an infant. As a result, she was raised among its shelves of magical tomes, growing up with a natural thirst for knowledge, though unfortunately that curiosity often got her into trouble with her caretakers…
Let’s check out the covers:
From left to right:
Margaret K. McElderry Books (2019) – French Edition (2021) – German Edition (2022)
Winner:
These covers are all so pretty, but I think the Big Bang French edition is the prettiest – the most fetchingly windswept – so that’s going to be my winner.
But what do you think? Which one is your favorite?
Thursday Thriller: Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano
Posted on December 2, 2021 21 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano
Mogsy’s Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Series: Book 1 of Finlay Donovan
Publisher: Minotaur Books (February 2, 2021)
Length: 355 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
I’m ashamed to admit it took me way too long to read Finlay Donovan Is Killing It because at first I didn’t think it would be my thing, but then of course the rave reviews started rolling in and made me start to think maybe it is my thing after all! This book ended up being so immensely entertaining that I can only recommend it with all my heart.
But first, let’s set the scene. Protagonist Finlay Donovan is a romance mystery author struggling with ideas for her next book. Part of the reason for her writer’s block is her recent divorce from her scummy ex-husband Steve who had been caught sleeping around with their real estate agent. Now he and the little hussy are getting married, and if that wasn’t soul-crushing enough, Steve is also trying to sue for full custody of his and Finlay’s children, claiming that her lack of a steady income makes her an unfit mother. The thing that hurts the most? Steve isn’t entirely wrong. Finlay is flat broke and the bills are piling up, but as much as she hates going to Steve for help, knowing how he and his fancy lawyer would simply use it against her in court, she has no choice—she must finish her book if she is to have any chance of keeping the kids.
As the story begins, Finlay is having a particularly bad morning. The electricity has just been shut off, the nanny is a no-show, and her four-year-old daughter has just decided to snip off her own hair, cutting herself in the process. Unfortunately, Finlay’s lame attempts to fix it with a knife have only resulted in a sticky, bloody fiasco, and in her hurry to make it across town to meet with her agent, the whole mess gets swept up into her diaper bag. After dropping the kids off at Steve’s (again, hating herself that she has to depend on him) she rushes off to her lunch date, preparing to face down a very angry and very impatient agent. Sure enough, Finlay gets an earful and spends the next little while spit-balling story ideas about how to kill her next victim, promising that she’ll deliver something so good that she’ll be demanding more money—pretty much anything that would buy her more time to write her book.
Sitting at the next table though, is a nervous looking woman seeming to eavesdrop while glancing down into the contents of Finlay’s diaper bag. At first, Finlay thinks nothing of it…but then she leaves to walk her agent to her car, returning to find a note left under her plate from the mysterious woman containing a phone number and instructions to whack her husband for no less than fifty thousand dollars! With horror, Finlay realizes how someone listening in on her previous conversation without any context might have gotten the wrong idea, especially after seeing the bloody, hair-covered knife in her diaper bag. Finlay quickly decides to call the number in the note to explain that she’s no contract killer, but then it turns out the woman’s husband is a very, very bad man. Plus, there’s no denying fifty thousand dollars is a lot of money. More than enough to solve all her financial problems…
Needless to say, the rest of the story is just too good to spoil, you’ll have to read the book to find out what happens for yourself! But what I can talk about though, is how funny, fast-paced, and entertaining this novel was, which resulted in me blowing through its pages in record time. There were also plenty of laughs and some places that were over-the-top, but that didn’t matter; I was in love with the plot’s freewheeling, feel-good nature and was simply having too much fun to care.
Finlay is also a riot of a protagonist. She never gets a break, and it’s easy to sympathize with her and her life of chaos, even if a lot of her problems are of her own making. Still, she is unstoppable, despite being surrounded by forces against her like her cheating asshole of an ex-husband, his snide and spiteful bride-to-be, or even her own bratty children who take her love for granted. Luckily though, she has Vero, who hands-down wins best supporting character of the year. I loved everything about the two of them, from the quirky, unexpected way they ended up together to the hilarious interactions they had.
There’s some romance too, along with the mystery. In many ways, Finlay Donovan is Killing It is very much how I would imagine the main character’s books would read like, if she was a real author. The pure enthusiasm for comedy and intrigue simply cannot be contained. I wish I had started it sooner, though it makes me so happy to know this will be a series, with another book to come out very soon. I cannot wait to go on another adventure with Finlay and Vero!
Waiting on Wednesday 12/01/21
Posted on December 1, 2021 13 Comments
Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme that first originated at Breaking the Spine but has since linked up with “Can’t Wait Wednesday” at Wishful Endings now that the original creator is unable to host it anymore. Either way, this fun feature is a chance to showcase the upcoming releases that we can’t wait to get our hands on!
Mogsy’s Pick
Hide by Kiersten White (May 24, 2022 by Del Rey)
November is over, welcome to December! Seriously, I can hardly believe it either, this year has just zipped by so fast. I’m happy to be switching gears though, after a month of sci-fi, to shine a spotlight on something more in the vein of horror thriller. I’m a fan of Kiersten White as well, and this upcoming novel of hers sounds really intense.
“A high-stakes hide-and-seek competition turns deadly in this dark thriller from New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White.
The challenge: spend a week hiding in an abandoned amusement park and don’t get caught.
The prize: enough money to change everything.
Even though everyone is desperate to win—to seize their dream futures or escape their haunting pasts—Mack feels sure that she can beat her competitors. All she has to do is hide, and she’s an expert at that.
It’s the reason she’s alive, and her family isn’t.
But as the people around her begin disappearing one by one, Mack realizes this competition is more sinister than even she imagined, and that together might be the only way to survive.
Fourteen competitors. Seven days. Everywhere to hide, but nowhere to run.
Come out, come out, wherever you are.”
#SciFiMonth Sci-5 Tuesday: Gaming and Virtual Worlds
Posted on November 30, 2021 23 Comments
To celebrate science fiction during the month of November, I’ve put together a series of posts I’ll be doing on Tuesdays to highlight the sci-fi tropes or themes that I find simply irresistible! I’ve also been fortunate to read some great books in the genre over the last few years, and to give them some extra attention, each week I will also be featuring five titles that I recently enjoyed or thought were pretty special.
Today for the final Tuesday of Sci-Fi November, I’m highlighting one of my absolute favorite tropes that I can never resist: GAMING AND VIRTUAL WORLDS! If you enjoy books like Ready Player One or Ender’s Game, these are some others you might want to check out:
United States of Japan by Peter Tieryas
Described as a spiritual successor to The Man in the High Castle, even if you have not read the Philip K. Dick classic, one can immediately surmise a certain set of expectations from United States of Japan. It is an alternate history novel, and it takes place approximately forty years after World War II in a world where Japan won the conflict and conquered America. History has been rewritten, and resistance has been reduced to a small group of rebels called the “George Washingtons”, freedom fighters who are continuing to find new ways to subvert the Japanese rule. Their latest tactic is a video game called “USA” that depicts what the world might be like if the Allied forces had won the war instead. Eventually, the illegal game reaches the attention of Captain Beniko Ishimura, whose role to censor video games ultimately leads him on a journey to investigate USA’s origins, putting him on a path of secrets, dangers and lies. (Read the full review…)
Warcross by Marie Lu
Warcross follows eighteen-year-old Emika Chen, a penniless hacker whose only form of escape is her neural link that allows her to immerse herself in a virtual reality world where she can forget all her troubles. These days, everyone is talking about Warcross, a competitive game which has taken the world by storm, spawning professional e-sports teams and even an annual competition followed by hundreds of millions. On the eve of the championships, Emika links in along with the rest of the world, but secretly, she’s hatching up a plan to swipe a power-up from right under the players’ noses, and the money she could get from selling a prize like that would be the end of all her financial troubles. However, something goes terribly wrong during her hack, and suddenly, Emika’s identity is revealed to the world. Strangely though, instead of being arrested immediately, Emika becomes a celebrity overnight and even receives a call from the billionaire developer of Warcross himself, making her an offer she can’t refuse. Someone is trying to ruin his company by targeting this year’s Warcross Championships, and now he needs a spy with Emika’s talents to infiltrate the games and live among the players to find out who the culprit is. (Read the full review…)
Armada by Ernest Cline
Since Ready Player One is pretty much a given on a list like this, I’ve decided to go with Ernest Cline’s second novel instead. Armada takes place in present day with a shift in focus to all things sci-fi and gaming, following Zack Lightman who spies a flying saucer in the sky one day. Oddly enough, the spaceship looks exactly like an enemy Glaive fighter in Armada, his favorite first-person space combat flight sim MMO. In the game, players take the role of drone pilots, controlling Earth Defense Alliance ships to do battle with alien invaders. Zack’s been playing the game so much, he’s starting to think he’s hallucinating it in his real life as well. Turns out though, Zack’s not crazy. The enemy fighter he glimpsed was as real as it could be. The bad news is, so is the Earth Defense Alliance and the war against the aliens. Governments around the world have known about this imminent attack for decades, and online games like Armada have been training potential recruits for the coming battle. As one of the highest ranked players in Armada, Zack is enlisted with other skilled gamers into the EDA’s forces. (Read the full review…)
Daemon by Daniel Suarez
Daemon is a unique fictional take on MMORPGs and video game AI, taking us to a near-future reality where technology controls everything in our lives via thousands of autonomous computer programs. Legendary computer game designer Matthew Sobol was an expert in creating such programs until his death which made headlines across the globe, but strangely, his obituary posted online triggered more than just grief among his fans and gamers. All of a sudden, a mysterious, previously dormant program called a daemon is awakened, activating a protocol designed to set off a chain of events to cause maximum damage to our interconnected systems. Turns out that Sobol was actually a psychopath who masterminded this entire attack by using his games to recruit a secret army, and then used the news of his demise to create a computer virus that would bring about the end of the world.
The God Game by Danny Tobey
The God Game follows the Vindicators, a group of misfit kids who bonded over a love of video games and coding. But as the teens entered their senior year, Charlie saw his life and grades spiral out of control after he lost his mother to cancer. His close friend Vanhi had her sights set on Harvard, but a bad grade in AP History may have just ended to those dreams. Then there’s Kenny, an aspiring journalist who is caught up in a rivalry at the school newspaper. Next is Alex, whose strict upbringing means every time he brings home a failing test his father beats him black and blue. And finally, there’s Peter, the popular rich kid who can flit from group to group. One day, he introduces the Vindicators to the G.O.D. game, an old-school style text-based program he claims is run by an A.I. chat bot that believes it is God. Good actions in game will earn players “Goldz” currency to buy perks, while disobedience will result in “Blaxx” demerit points that would lead to punishment. Believing it to be just a harmless game, the Vindicators decide to play. However, what started as a handful of innocent instructions from G.O.D. rapidly begins escalating into more dangerous, malicious, and underhanded attacks on others, including their fellow Vindicators. (Read the full review…)
The BiblioSanctum 