TBR | Science Fiction

When I was younger I never had much of an interest in sci-fi, and as I got older I felt more intimidated by the genre than anything else; I always felt that because I didn't know everything there was to know about sci-fi - I never watched Star Trek and I was only interested in the parts of Star Wars that involved Princess Leia - I wasn't allowed to enjoy it.

Ridiculous, I know. All genres are open to everyone, but I definitely think there are some areas of the sci-fi fandom which, sadly, include the sci-fi snobs and the sci-fi sexists. I've always found it odd that so many men believe sci-fi isn't a genre for women when the genre was practically created by a teenage girl.

But that's a tangent for another post! Recently, thanks to a few of my friends, I've found myself really getting into sci-fi, and I'm especially eager to read some. So below is a small list of books, all of which fall into the sci-fi category, that I'd like to get my hands on soon!

Valour's Choice

by Tanya Huff

In the distant future, humans and several other races have been granted membership in the Confederation--at a price. They must act as soldiers/protectors of the far more civilized races who have long since turned away from war....

Tanya Huff is one of my favourite authors. She's a writer of both sci-fi and fantasy who's well known for the fantastic ways in which she challenges gender stereotypes and representation in her fiction. So far I've only read her fantasy novels - I've read the first two books in her Blood Books series and I'm currently reading Sing the Four Quarters - and now I'd really like to dive into some of her sci-fi.

Valour's Choice is the first book in the Confederation series, and I think the premise sounds really cool. Not to mention any book in which a woman is in charge of a group of soldiers makes me very happy; I've loved all of Huff's heroines so far, so I'm hoping I'll be able to get this book under my belt very soon!

The Chrysalids

by John Wyndham

David Storm's father doesn't approve of Angus Morton's unusually large horses, calling them blasphemies against nature. Little does he realise that his own son, and his son's cousin Rosalind and their friends, have their own secret aberration which would label them as mutants. But as David and Rosalind grow older it becomes more difficult to conceal their differences from the village elders. Soon they face a choice: wait for eventual discovery, or flee to the terrifying and mutable Badlands...

I've been meaning to read something of John Wyndham's for a while now, and it took me some time to decide whether I wanted The Chrysalids or The Day of the Triffids on this list. While a story about killer plants does sound pretty awesome, a story about mutants sounds even better. What can I say? I'm an X-Men lover!

I believe Wyndham's sci-fi tends to fall into the post-apocalyptic strand of the genre, but as someone who loves post-apocalyptic fiction that only makes me want to read his work more!

Parasite

by Mira Grant

A decade in the future, humanity thrives in the absence of sickness and disease.

We owe our good health to a humble parasite - a genetically engineered tapeworm developed by the pioneering SymboGen Corporation. When implanted, the tapeworm protects us from illness, boosts our immune system - even secretes designer drugs. It's been successful beyond the scientists' wildest dreams. Now, years on, almost every human being has a SymboGen tapeworm living within them.

But these parasites are getting restless. They want their own lives...and will do anything to get them.

I'm currently reading Mira Grant's Newsflesh trilogy and I'm in love with it; it's up there beside Harry Potter and The Lunar Chronicles as one of my all time favourite series. I first came across Parasite about a year ago, and it's only in the past couple of months I actually realised Mira Grant is its author, but even before I made that connection I knew I wanted to give it a read at some point.

First and foremost, just look at that cover. As far as I'm concerned this book has one of the best covers I've ever seen; it really pops out on the shelf, and I just think it's so much fun. Secondly I love this novel's premise, and I think if it's executed well (which I'm sure it is) it'll be a very sinister read.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

by Douglas Adams

Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.

Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travellers.

I couldn't possibly write a post like this without mentioning Douglas Adams. I'm rather ashamed to admit I still haven't read any Adams, even though my Dad has been recommending The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to me for years now. I actually bought him the entire series for his birthday a few years ago, so next time I'm home I should really give them a read - they're such short books, and everyone I know who's read them has told me they laughed out loud more than once!

Vicious

by V.E. Schwab

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong. Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end? 

I've been dying to read Vicious since I first heard about it, in fact I've been meaning to read something by Victoria Schwab for a while now. She's also the author of The Archived and The Unbound, and her newest novel, A Darker Shade of Magic, is one of my most anticipated releases of 2015.

Vicious might not be as 'hardcore' sci-fi as some of the other books on this list, but it sounds like such a fun read, and it's another book I've heard nothing but amazing things about. It's even being adapted into a movie!

Are you a sci-fi fan? Which books would you recommend to a sci-fi newbie?

J.

Spring TV Wrap-Up!

Today I'm going to do something a little different and talk about some of the shows I've been watching recently. I don't consider myself a TV buff at all - I tend to read more books than watch shows, and I'm envious of people who can dedicate their time to so many different shows and keep on top of all the characters and plotlines.

What I tend to do when it comes to TV is wait until a series is finished - either entirely, so that I have a few/several seasons to watch, or just the first season so I can get a taste for it and see what I think - and then watch it, rather than watch it as soon as it comes out. I'm lazy when it comes to TV, and it's really easy for me to grow disinterested; a show has to be really good to keep me waiting for a new installment each week, so I prefer being able to marathon an entire season over the course of a few days.

So far this spring I've finished four shows: Channel 4's New Worlds; BBC's The Crimson Field; Hannibal Season Two and Orphan Black Season One.

Let's get the worst over with first, shall we?

I decided to watch New Worlds after I saw a trailer for it advertised at my campus cinema and realised it would be on TV when I went home for Easter in April. From the trailer it looked like it was going to be pretty epic.

As you might have guessed from my love of historical fiction, one of my favourite things to watch on TV is a good historical drama, and I particularly love anything set in the 16th or 17th centuries. New Worlds is set during the reign of Charles II and takes place both in England, where the English are growing tired of Charles's tyranny, and across the ocean in Massachusetts, where the colonisers are trying to break away from English rule while also fighting against the Natives for their land.

What I thought was going to be the first season of a long series turned out to be a Mills and Boon-esque four part mini-series, with terrible character development and a plot which fell flat despite having so much potential. This show was a real disappointment and I really wouldn't recommend checking it out.

Thankfully I had three other shows over Easter to keep me going: Hannibal, The Crimson Field and Game of Thrones - I won't be talking about Game of Thrones here because season four hasn't finished yet!

Luckily for me where Channel 4 failed the BBC stepped up. This year marks one hundred years since the start of WW1, so over Easter the BBC broadcast a six-part drama, The Crimson Field, which follows a group of women who travel to France to work as volunteer nurses.

I really enjoyed this show, so much so that I'm hoping there's going to be more of it in future! Despite only being six episodes long, it used those episodes wisely to include as many stories - from the early management of shell shock to the punishment of deserters - and as much character development as possible without making the show feel crowded. 

I'd definitely recommend it, whether you're a fan of historical dramas or not!

Last week saw the finale of the second season of Hannibal; a show that has become one of my all time favourite dramas on television since its premier last year. Following the first season's amazing finale, the second season follows Will Graham's pursuit for justice by any means necessary - even if that means teaming up with the very man who incriminated him in the first place...

My love for this show knows no bounds. Not only is it a brilliant reimagining of Thomas Harris's stories, with both male and female three-dimensional characters, it's also visually stunning. Even if you've never read the books or seen the films, everyone is aware of Hannibal Lecter, and despite the fact that the show deals with something as brutal as murder and cannibalism it's still a piece of art in its own right.

The end of the second season was just as shocking as the end of the first, and I can't wait for season three! If you haven't checked this show out then I highly, highly recommend it, though the second season in particular might not be an enjoyable watch for the squeamish.

Hannibal came to an end the same weekend in which there wasn't a new Game of Thrones episode, so to stop myself from pining too much I decided to pick up where I left off when I started watching Orphan Black some time last year.

I watched the first two episodes of the first season last year, and even though I liked what I watched I didn't love it enough to continue watching it. The past couple of weeks, however, I've been seeing it all over Tumblr, so I decided to give it a try and I ended up marathoning the rest of the first season - from episode three to episode ten - in the space of about three days!

The show follows Sarah Manning, a con artist whose life is turned upside down after she witnesses the suicide of a woman who looks exactly like her.

I enjoyed this show so much more the second time around; Tatiana Maslany is an amazing actress and I loved the story. I'm a big fan of stories which feature any form of science vs. religion, and as someone who's just starting to get into sci-fi this show was perfect for me. I'm not quite ready for alien races and spaceships, but a sci-fi thriller I can handle.

One day I'll be ready for space. One day.

I haven't started watching the second season of Orphan Black yet but I will be soon, and I'm hoping to continue watching American Horror Story: Coven, another show I watched the first two episodes of and have enjoyed so far. I'm rather picky when it comes to shows involving witches, somehow they always end up cheesier than I'd like, but so far AHS isn't shying away from the darker side of witchcraft, and I love that.

As far as other shows go I'm also planning on sating my lust for historical dramas by finally watching Vikings and Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Ever since I went to see Pompeii a couple of weeks ago I've been craving something else gladiatorial and I've heard great things about Spartacus - I love a good rebellion story.

I'll be back with another TV wrap-up in the summer!

What have you been watching recently?

Review | Cress by Marissa Meyer

Cress

by Marissa Meyer

My Rating: 

Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard. 

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army. 

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice. 

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

In the third book of The Lunar Chronicles, Marissa Meyer puts a whole new spin on the story of Rapunzel. Meyer's Rapunzel - Cress - is a fantastic hacker who has been kept in a satellite since she was small by Mistress Sybil, Queen Levana's right hand woman. 

She has been given the task of tracking down Cinder and her accomplices, but instead of revealing their whereabouts she has been hiding them instead, and admiring a certain Captain from afar. When the runaways make contact, Cress finally has the chance to escape and pursue a happily ever after of her own.

Before I say anything else I just want to take a minute to say that there will be spoilers in this review. I try to keep my reviews as spoiler-free as possible, but Cress only came out in February and I know a lot of fans of the series haven't read it yet. If you're one of those people then please stop reading now! I don't want to be responsible for ruining such a great book for you.

(And if you're interested in seeing my reviews of Cinder and Scarlet, you can find them here and here!)

As you can see by my rating, I loved this book. It's definitely the best installment of the series so far.

One of the best things about this series is that they're both brilliantly original and a wonderful homage to their original source material. Finding the references to the original fairy tales throughout this series is like finding little Easter eggs, and in Cress it's no different.

I loved the details such as Thorne's blindness (not to mention his name!), the desert he and Cress find themselves cast into, the way Thorne liked listening to her sing, and Cress's name, too. I pretty much grew up on the Grimm's Fairy Tales, so I love it when retellings reference them so much.

Cress herself is an endearing heroine. Unlike Cinder and Scarlet, poor Cress has lived the majority of her life in a satellite with only her screens for company, and because of this she's far more naive than our previous heroines. One of the things I love most about this series, however, is just how different each of our heroines are from each other. They're all such different kinds of women with different strengths, but not a one is 'better' than the other; there's a heroine for everyone in this series, and I love that!

Cress's relationship with Thorne was a lot of fun; it had a Tangled-esque feel to it, and I loved Tangled, and their dynamic even reminded me a little of the relationship between Evie and Rick in The Mummy, another film I love. I appreciate that their relationship wasn't a love story in the same way that the relationship between Cinder and Kai or Scarlet and Wolf is; while reading this I really got the feeling that these two still have a little more growing up to do before they're ready to be together, but they're adorable all the same.

Cress's other major, but brief, relationship in the novel was heartbreaking. Until I started reading Cress I had no idea she was going to turn out to be Dr Erland's daughter, and it was so painful to see them reunited only to be parted immediately afterwards. I have conflicted feelings when it comes to Dr Erland, in fact I still haven't decided if I like him or not, but he definitely broke my heart in Cress.

Cinder continues to grow into the kind of heroine the rest of the world needs her to be, while also staying true to herself. That she was accepted by the people in Africa was lovely, and I was so relieved when she and Kai were finally reunited and he finally discovered her true identity. Finally!

The scenes where Cinder and co. abducted Kai from his wedding were so much fun to read - my only criticism was that it was Cinder who defeated Sybil Mira. I couldn't help but feel that Cress should have been the one to face her in the end, but on the other hand Cress doesn't seem like the kind of girl who could have defeated her (she was, after all, locked in a satellite for the majority of her life) and Sybil Mira's downfall gave Cinder the chance to grow into her own power.

Poor Scarlet had a pretty rough time in this installment; the scene in which she was questioned by Levana and Sybil Mira had me on edge the entire time. Though it was awful to see her taken prisoner, I loved that through her we finally met Winter, Levana's stepdaughter and our Snow White. It's safe to say that now I'm even more excited for the release of Winter than I was before!

I'm looking forward to seeing more of Winter and finding out what her role in the story is going to be. She's been scarred by Levana - I love that Meyer's retelling of Snow White appears to be just as dark as the original tale - and yet the two of them appear to be on rather good terms with one another. At least that's what they've made us believe so far. I'm curious to know what Winter really thinks of her stepmother.

I've heard quite a few people say that Cress was a little too long for their liking, but honestly I have nothing bad to say about it. I loved it and I was so disappointed when it ended, especially when we have to wait until next year for the finale!

Thanks for reading! J.

Review | Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Scarlet

by Marissa Meyer

My Rating: 

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Scarlet is the second novel in Marissa Meyer's The Lunar Chronicles, a YA Science Fiction series that gives the fairy tales we all know and love a futuristic twist!

At the end of Cinder, the first novel in the series which I reviewed here, our cyborg heroine broke out of prison after she discovered who she really was. Cinder's part in the second installment picks up pretty much where we left her, and she escapes the prison with Captain Thorne, a fellow prisoner, in tow. Luckily for her Thorne happens to own his own ship.

Across the world in Europe, far away from the hustle and bustle of New Beijing, Scarlet Benoit is desperately trying to find her grandmother, a retired pilot, who has been missing for over a week. The day she is informed the police are stopping their search, Scarlet encounters a street fighter named Wolf who bears a tattoo on his arm; a tattoo that Scarlet's drunken father informs her is similar to the tattoo on the arms of her grandmother's captors. Together, Scarlet and Wolf journey to Paris.

Like Cinder, Scarlet was a lot of fun to read and it was great to be back in the world of The Lunar Chronicles. I'm really quite attached to the place!

I'm even more attached to Cinder herself, who has quickly become one of my favourite literary heroines, so it was lovely to follow her around again and to see her beginning to develop a sense of who she is and what she wants despite the fear she's feeling. Plus I loved the friendship that developed between Cinder and Thorne - I've said it before, but I don't think there are enough purely platonic male/female relationships in YA.

Scarlet's story was equally fun to follow. I absolutely loved that Meyer wrote her version of the Grandmother as an ex military pilot - I keep saying this, but that's just cool!

Not only that, but I enjoyed the way the two tales were woven together by the role of Scarlet's grandmother in Cinder's past; it feels as though the Benoits have been set up as Cinder's protectors, and her supporters as well, and the poor girl is in need of both!

I loved the relationship between Scarlet and her grandmother, too. Any of you who have been reading my blog posts for a while are probably sick and tired of hearing me talking about positive female relationships in YA (and in every other genre) but I'm never going to stop talking about how important they are. They're particularly important in stories like these ones which are based on fairy tales. How often are the villains in fairy tales Evil Queens, Wicked Stepmothers or Witches?

In The Lunar Chronicles alone we have Queen Levana, Sybil and Adri, all of whom are villains in their own right. That's why it's so important that this series also gives us positive relationships like the ones between Cinder and Peony, and Scarlet and her grandmother. Throughout Scarlet, not once does Scarlet even consider giving up on searching for her grandmother, and when circumstances force her to face the rest of the world alone she makes damn sure Cinder isn't going to let her grandmother's sacrifice go to waste.

Obviously I couldn't talk about Scarlet without talking about the relationship between Scarlet and Wolf.

I have to admit that while reading Scarlet I had very mixed feelings about the romance that blossomed between the two. Wolf is the kind of character I like; I love reading about brutes with a heart of gold, which is probably due to my love of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale, but I couldn't help feeling that Scarlet and Wolf's relationship looked an awful lot like instalove. In fact that's pretty much why I gave this book 4 stars rather than anything higher, though I still really enjoyed the book.

I suppose we could argue that their instant attraction was a tribute to the love stories in all the original fairy tales, or that it was a very base, animal attraction to a man who, at first glance, seems rather base and animalistic himself. Even so, I do prefer it when characters fall in love after knowing each other for more than two days!

I thought this book was a brilliantly fast-paced sequel, and now that Cinder's beginning to accumulate supporters of her own it's clear that Levana's going to have a real fight on her hands. If you enjoyed Cinder, then you'll definitely enjoy Scarlet.

Thanks for reading! J.

Review | Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder

by Marissa Meyer

My Rating: 

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Despite finishing it in the final month of 2013, Marissa Meyer's Cinder was most definitely one of my favourite reads of last year.

Like many people all around the world I grew up on the Grimm's Fairy Tales, so when there was a sudden boom of fairy tale retellings in the publishing world I was ecstatic! There's definitely no lack of fiction based on Cinderella - Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted and Gregory Maguire's Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister being just two examples - it's one of those stories that everyone knows. Besides, who doesn't love an underdog?

What's brilliant about Meyer's retelling is that it's just so original. In Cinder our Cinderella - obviously shortened to 'Cinder' - is a cyborg mechanic whose cruel stepmother sells her to the authorities, so that they can use her for medical testing, in an attempt to find a cure for the plague which is killing thousands across New Beijing and the world. The problem is all the cyborgs that have gone before her have died.

Life gets pretty hard for Cinder. Her stepsister Peony, whom she loves, falls ill, she starts to develop feelings for the handsome Kai, Prince of New Beijing, when the two keep bumping into each other, and on top of all that the evil Queen Levana, who just so happens to live on the moon, journeys to Earth with the intention of marrying Kai after the death of his sick father.

The thing I loved most about this novel was Cinder herself. She wasn't the typical 'Cinderella' figure, instead she had a certain independence to her and a brilliant sense of humour. Because Meyer made her so likeable it was even more heartbreaking when everything started to go wrong for her - particularly during the heart-wrenching scenes involving her and Prince Kai near the end of the novel.

The Prince himself was also a pleasant surprise. I've often found in fairy tale retellings that the heroines tend to be incredibly three dimensional characters - which is wonderful - but their love interests often turn out rather samey; a lot of the time they are your typical 'Prince Charming'. Kai, however, was given scenes in the novel in which Cinder was not present, giving him the chance to develop as a character and not only as a love interest.

I also loved Iko, Cinder's mechanical sidekick and friend, who is kind of the Fairy Godmother of the tale, and encourages Cinder when the rest of the world tries to tear her down.

Our villain, Queen Levana, was a little typical in terms of a fairy tale villain, but I felt as though she worked as a homage towards all the Evil Queens, Wicked Stepmothers and Witches that came before her, and she was certainly sufficiently threatening for the story. I can see she's going to be the cause of even more trouble in the future!

It's not only Meyer's characters that are strong, her worldbuilding is also fantastic. New Beijing and the other new continents of the world, all of which came about after yet another World War, are both far enough away from what we know for the sake of the novel's science fiction genre, and close enough for us to see the similarities between Cinder's world and our own. I can't wait to explore other parts of the world in the rest of the series!

So if I loved the novel that much, why did I give it 4.5 stars instead of a full 5? Well I gave it a slightly lower rating for two reasons: 1) Because I worked out the twist concerning Cinder's identity pretty early on in the novel and 2) Because I have a feeling The Lunar Chronicles is going to be ones of those series that just gets better and better, so I want to save up my 5 stars for future use!

The novel's one flaw, if we really want to call it that, is that it can be a little predictable in places, but it's so fun and cool and exciting that I just don't care! I adored this novel, and I can't wait to get my hands on Scarlet and for the release of Cress next month!

Thanks for reading! J.