The Demi-Monde: Winter, by Rod Rees

The Demi-Monde: Winter, by Rod Rees.  William Morrow, 2010.  517 pp.  978-0-06-207034-0.

... in which a young woman is enlisted to save the US President's daughter, who is trapped in a virtual world populated by Nazis, terrorists, and various villains from world history.

The Demi-Monde: Winter is the first book in a series involving a virtual reality (the Demi-Monde), set in 2018.  This virtual world was created to simulate urban warfare scenarios for US soldiers in training, and the programmers populated the world with "dupes", virtual duplicates of real-life people, famous and otherwise.  The computer world's technology is set to be comparable to the technology available in Victorian times.  The most prominent people populating the Demi-Monde are some the worst people to ever live, including Reinhard Heydrich (one of Hitler's right-hand men), Lavrentii Beria (Stalin's chief of police), Tomas de Torquemada (a prominent figure in the Catholic Church's Spanish Inquisition), and plenty of others.  The catch?  The people in the Demi-Monde don't know that they're not real; all they know is that living in the Demi-Monde is hell.  Unfortunately for the real-life humans who are spending time in this computer simulation, if you die in the computer, then you die in real life.  Somehow, the US President's daughter Norma has been lured into the Demi-Monde, and is being held captive by Heydrich and his lackeys.  The US Army recruits a young woman, Ella Thomas, to infiltrate the Demi-Monde and bring Norma out safely.  However, the rulers of the Demi-Monde have a bigger plan for Norma and all of the residents of the computer world.

The Rook, by Daniel O'Malley

The Rook, by Daniel O'Malley.  Little, Brown and Company, 2012.  978-0-316-19327-6.

... in which Myfanwy Thomas awakes with no memory of who she is, and must somehow return to her life as a high-ranking official in a secret government agency that protects the world from supernatural enemies.

Myfanwy Thomas (pronounced miff-uh-ney) wakes up one night and finds herself surrounded by dead bodies wearing latex gloves, with no memory of who she is.  In her pocket, she finds a letter from her pre-amnesiac self, explaining that her name is Myfanwy Thomas and that she is being hunted by people who want to destroy her.  Following the clues from her pre-amnesiac self, Myfanwy Thomas gradually learns that she is a Rook for the Checquy, a top-secret British government agency with hundreds of agents, directed towards protecting the world from various supernatural threats.  Myfanwy's title of Rook places her in the very highest echelon of the Checquy, essentially making her a general in charge of all domestic supernatural problems.  Myfanwy has to continue to follow the clues to discover who she is and who is trying to kill her, while also preventing her dangerous colleagues at the Checquy from discovering her total amnesia, and while preventing a full-scale invasion of horrifying monsters attempting to take over Great Britain.

After the Golden Age, by Carrie Vaughn

After the Golden Age, by Carrie Vaughn.  Tor Books, 2011.  342 pp.  978-0-7653-6460-9.

... in which Celia, the totally normal daughter of the two greatest superheroes on Earth, fights evil and finds her own way in the world.

Celia West is the daughter of Captain Olympus and Spark, the two greatest superheroes in the world.  Unfortunately for Celia, she was born completely normal, and her most exciting accomplishment is her silver medal from a high school swim meet.  Estranged from her parents, who were disappointed at her lack of superpowers, Celia now works as an accountant.  When her accounting firm is called in to work on the financials of the Destructor, her parents' biggest nemesis who is about to stand trial, Celia gets drawn back into the world of superheroes and supervillains.  As one of her biggest secrets is revealed to the world, Celia has to learn to contend with bad guys, her parents, and her own place in the world.

The Mindful Carnivore, by Tovar Cerulli

The Mindful Carnivore: A Vegetarian's Hunt for Sustenance, by Tovar Cerulli.  Pegasus Books, 2012. 

... in which the author explains his reasoning for becoming a vegetarian, and then the ethics and philosophy behind his gradual move back to eating meat.

This review is of a digital copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

Throughout his life, Tovar Cerulli has spent more time outdoors and observing nature than most people do.  His childhood gave him a deep appreciation of how each animal is important to the natural world, and he came away with a deep reverence for all kinds of life.  His experiences with fishing as a child also gave him an understanding of where his food comes from, and how it connects him back to the wider world.  As an adult, this awareness led to Cerulli becoming a vegetarian, and then a vegan, believing that it was unethical to take a life for the purposes of eating, especially when there were so many other options available.  Over time, however, Cerulli's further observations of the natural world led him to an understanding that his veganism was, in a way, separating him more from the natural world and was leaving him hungering for something more.  The Mindful Carnivore is an explanation of the beliefs that brought Cerulli back to eating meat, and back to hunting and fishing, and how his new lifestyle remains compatible with the beliefs that brought him to vegetarianism.

The Annotated Hobbit, by JRR Tolkien

The Annotated Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien and annotated by Douglas A. Anderson.  Houghton Mifflin Company, 1988.  335 pp.  0-395-47690-9.

... in which Bilbo and company's adventures are annotated with notes about Tolkien's inspirations and the various changes between different editions of The Hobbit.

The Annotated Hobbit is a unique copy of The Hobbit because in its margins, writer Douglas Anderson has added in a plethora of notes and images to supplement the main text.  Most of the notes are about Tolkien's various inspirations, both in terms of plot and linguistics.  There are also various footnotes noting the different changes between various editions over the years, and illustrations are included throughout the book showing different artists' interpretations of the events from different international editions.  I'm not going to bother to summarize the plot, because if you don't know the plot of The Hobbit by now, then you probably don't care.

Lucy, by Laurence Gonzales.  Vintage Books, 2011.  307 pp.  978-0-307-4890-5.

... in which Lucy, a the product of a science experiment with breeding humans and bonobos together, teaches the world what it means to be human.

Lucy opens in the Congo, where primatologist Jenny Lowe is studying bonobos (a cousin of the chimpanzee, and one of humanity's closest relatives).  When Jenny is forced to flee from the Congo as the civil war reaches her study site in the jungle, she finds that another primate researcher has been murdered.  Her colleague leaves behind a 14-year-old daughter, Lucy, and Jenny feels obligated to take Lucy with her as she flees the country.  Jenny takes Lucy to Chicago with her, and when it becomes clear that Lucy has no living family, Jenny adopts her as her own daughter.  When reading through Lucy's father's notes, it becomes clear that Lucy is the product of a strange experiment: she is half human, half bonobo.  Because Lucy appears to be completely human, and is more intelligent and articulate than most humans, Jenny tries to enroll her in school.  As Lucy begins to settle in to her new life, her secret inevitably gets out, and Lucy becomes an overnight celebrity.  Lucy's new public presence sparks a debate about what it means to be human, and could threaten her life and the lives of everyone she loves.

The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green

The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green.  Dutton Books, 2012.  318 pp.  978-0-525-47881-2.

... in which two teenagers meet at a cancer support group and deal with love, pain and loss.

The Fault in Our Stars is narrated from the point of view of Hazel, a 16-year-old girl who is slowly dying from metastatic thyroid cancer.  She spends her time attending classes at a local community college and going to a largely useless support group for teenagers with cancer.  While reluctantly attending a support group meeting one day, Hazel meets 17-year-old Augustus, a handsome and charming boy who lost a leg to osteosarcoma, which has gone into remission.  Hazel and Augustus bond over their shared experiences with cancer, and their shared love of a particular novel.  As their relationship progresses, Hazel has to consider the fact that her diagnosis is terminal, despite the fact that her death is coming slowly, and she must decide how this will ultimately affect the way she forms relationships, especially her relationship with Augustus.

Big Miracle, by Tom Rose

Big Miracle, by Tom Rose.  St. Martin's, 2011.  324 pp.  978-0-312-62519-1.

... in which we learn about the international effort to rescue three California Gray whales trapped under the ice near Barrow, Alaska.

This is a review of an advanced copy provided to me through Goodreads' FirstReads program.

Big Miracle is the true story of the rescue of three trapped whales in 1988.  The whales started their southern migration too late in the summer season, and soon found themselves trapped in the ice near Barrow, Alaska (the northernmost point of the United States).  The story became an international tale, with people all around the world watching the events unfold on TV, and with an international group of people coming together to rescue these animals.  Presumably this book was the inspiration for the movie of the same name being released this February, but I'm really skeptical.

Divergent, by Veronica Roth

Divergent, by Veronica Roth.  HarperCollins, 2011.  487 pp.  978-0-06-202402-2.

... in which Beatrice, living in a dystopian future Chicago, must choose a faction, survive the dangerous and competitive training for initiates, and stop a plot that could destroy her whole society.

Divergent follows the adventures of a 16-year-old girl named Beatrice Prior.  Beatrice lives in a futuristic dystopian Chicago, where all of the population is divided into five factions, distinguished from each other by their central characteristics:  Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (the honest), Amity (the peaceful), Erudite (the intelligent), and Dauntless (the brave).  At the age of 16, each citizen takes an aptitude test and then chooses which faction they would like to join.  Many stay with the faction they were raised in, though some decide to switch.  On the day of her aptitude exam, Beatrice is given inconclusive results, which means she is Divergent... a very dangerous thing.  Despite being raised in Abnegation, Beatrice chooses to switch factions to Dauntless, and changes her name to Tris.  There, she must survive a very dangerous and very competitive month of training, while learning why being Divergent is a dangerous trait.  Along the way, Tris meets a boy (of course) and discovers a dangerous plot that could destroy her whole society.

Touch of Power, by Maria V. Snyder

Touch of Power, by Maria V. Snyder.  Mira, 2011.  400 pp.  978-0778313076

... in which Avry, a young healer, runs from bounty hunters, gets herself captured, falls in love, and faces an impossible choice.

 

This review is of a digital copy provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley.

 

Touch of Power follows the adventures of Avry, a 20-year-old woman with special healing abilities.  Unfortunately for her, healers in her world have been hunted down and executed, since everyone else blames them for the plague that killed the majority of the population a few years earlier.  One night, as Avry sits in a cell awaiting execution, a man named Kerrick breaks her out.  The catch?  Avry must travel with Kerrick to heal a prince, who is possibly the world's only chance for lasting peace.  However, healers can't heal the plague like they can with ordinary diseases and injuries; the healer who takes the plague from another will sicken and die, and the man that Kerrick wants Avry to heal was partially responsible for the slaughter of all the healers Avry knew.  As Avry travels with Kerrick, she must decide if she wants to save the prince, while also avoiding capture from bounty hunters.

Fool Me Twice, by Shawn Lawrence Otto.

Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America, by Shawn Lawrence Otto.  Rodale Books, 2011.  384 pp.  978-1605292175.

... in which we explore the ways that politicians and other public figures have led an attack on science in America, leading to the policy problems encountered today.

This review is of a digital copy provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley.

In Fool Me Twice, Shawn Lawrence Otto discusses the divide between politics and science present in America today.  Pointing out that we are living in an increasingly scientifically complex world, Otto writes about the implications of having a Congress where less than 2% of the members have a background in a science field.  He also talks about how the media has done very little to alleviate this issue, by constantly dodging scientific topics or dumbing them down to a point where they aren't really science any more.  

Treasure Island!!!, by Sara Levine

Treasure Island!!!, by Sara Levine.  Europa Editions, 2012.  172 pp.  978-1-60945-061-8.

... in which a young woman takes Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island as her own personal life guide and adopts its Core Values (boldness, resolution, independence, and horn-blowing) as her own guiding principles.

Treasure Island!!! follows the adventures of a 25-year-old woman (who has no name, as far as I can tell).  After graduating with a degree in English, our unnamed anti-heroine works a series of jobs like ice cream scooper, gift wrapper, and clerk at The Pet Library (where you actually go to borrow pets).  One day she picks up a copy of Treasure Island and finds herself transformed by the book.  She decides to adopt the book as the guide for how her life should go, and tries to model her life after Jim Hawkins' adventures on the high seas with Long John Silver.  Starting with the ill-advised decision to buy herself a parrot, the main character proceeds to wreak havoc on her life, and the lives of the people around her.

Opening Atlantis, by Harry Turtledove

Opening Atlantis, by Harry Turtledove.  ROC, 2007.  440 pp.  978-0-451-46174-2.

... in which we hear of the exploits of the Radcliffe family as they discover, settle, and lead a new community on the island of Atlantis.

Harry Turtledove is most famous for his alternate history novels.  In this book, the first of a trilogy, Turtledove explores the idea of an extra continent (or large island) in the Atlantic Ocean.  Although this island is named Atlantis by its discoverers, it's not actually the lost Atlantis of legend.  As you can see from the cover art above, Atlantis is basically the eastern United States, broken off from North America and now situated in the middle of the Atlantic.  Opening Atlantis follows the Radcliffe family through several generations after the founding of Atlantis.  The book is divided into three parts.  The first part is set in the mid-1400s during the War of the Roses, and follows Edward Radcliffe and his sons Richard and Henry as they discover Atlantis and bring the first wave of European settlers to this new world.  The second part is set about two centuries later, and follows the confrontation between Red Rodney Radcliffe (pirate) and his cousin William Radcliff (who changed his last name so as not to be associated with his pirate cousin).  The third part of the novel follows Victor Radcliff a few generations later, as he witnesses mounting tensions between English, French, and Spanish settlers, as well as tensions between the Europeans and their slaves.

Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro.  Vintage Books, 2005.  288 pp.  978-0-307-74099-1.

... in which Kathy H tells the story of her childhood and young adulthood as she and her two friends form relationships and confront the frightening reality of their own fates.

Never Let Me Go (previously reviewed by Emma) tells the story of three young people (Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth) as they grow up together at an exclusive boarding school called Hailsham.  The story is told through Kathy's eyes, and hopscotches through time, covering events in their childhood and adolescence at Hailsham, and events in their late teens and twenties.  Kathy forms the center of the group, befriending Tommy when he was a friendless outcast and also befriending Ruth, one of the most popular girls in the school.  From the beginning, it is clear that something is a little bit different in Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth's lives.  As the three of them grow up and leave Hailsham, they are forced to confront the meaning of their own destinies and examine the relationships and bonds they've formed with their friends.

The Alloy of Law, by Brandon Sanderson

The Alloy of Law, by Brandon Sanderson.  Tor, 2011.  332 pp.  978-0-7653-3042-0.

... in which Waxillium Ladrian, Allomancer, uses his Allomantic abilities and his skills as a lawman to bring down a ring of dangerous and powerful criminals.

The Alloy of Law is a sequel to Sanderson's amazingly awesome Mistborn trilogy, though this book is a stand-alone story and can be read without any familiarity with the original Mistborn books.  Set about three hundred years after the events in the original Mistborn trilogy, this story follows Waxillium Ladrian, a former lawman and current lord of the House Ladrian.  Wax spent twenty years as a lawman in the Roughs, working in tiny, backwoods towns to apprehend criminals, much like a sheriff in an old-fashioned western.  However, when his uncle dies in a tragic accident, Wax is summoned back to the capital city of Elendel to assume his duties as the head of his House.  Struggling to adjust to life among the highborn aristocracy after spending two decades in the Roughs, Wax sets aside his lawman tendencies.  However, when a series of mysterious and high-profile robberies and kidnappings continue to go unsolved, Wax begins to investigate and finds that the case is far more dangerous than he anticipated.

Miracle in the Andes, by Nando Parrado

Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home, by Nando Parrado (with Vince Rause).  Three Rivers Press, 2006.  291 pp.  978-1-4000-9769-2.

... in which Nando and 15 other survivors struggle to survive a plane crash in the remote Andes.

This is the true story of the 1972 Andes plane crash.  Nando Parrado was a young man traveling with his rugby team from Uruguay to Chile in 1972.  Also on the charter flight were Nando's mother and younger sister, and several other friends and relatives of teammates, for a total of 44 passengers.  When the flight encountered bad weather high in the Andes, the plane crashed into the side of the mountain.  Many passengers died immediately, and the remaining survivors had to survive for several months on the bitterly cold, desolate mountainside (Parrado himself spent the first few days after the crash in a coma).  When it became clear that a rescue party was not coming for them, Nando had to lead a small group of people through the Andes on a desperate search for help.

Nation, by Terry Pratchett

Nation, by Terry Pratchett.  Harper, 2008.  367 pp.  978-0-06-143303-0.

... in which two young teens, the only survivors of a massive tsunami, attempt to rebuild their lives.

Nation is the story of two teenagers (both about 13 or 14 years old), who live in a world similar to our world in the late 1800s.  Mau is a boy who lives on a small island (analogous to a south Pacific island in our world); when the tsunami hits, he is alone on a different island going through a ritual to take him from boyhood to manhood.  Upon traveling back to his home island, he finds that the wave has destroyed his village and that he is the only one left.  Daphne is a girl traveling from London to live with her father, who is the governor of a British colony somewhere near Mau's island.  The tsunami wrecks her ship, leaving her alone with Mau on his island.  Despite being separated by language and culture, the two begin to work together to rebuild the island nation.  Gradually they are joined by other survivors from other islands.  As Mau takes up the leadership of this small group, he and Daphne are forced to confront the hidden secrets of the island, and to question the traditions and beliefs that govern their lives.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, by Haruki Murakami

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, by Haruki Murakami.  Vintage International, 1991.  400 pp.  978-0-679-74346-0.


... in which there are some unicorns and some men with strange minds.

This book has two seemingly unrelated stories happening simultaneously.  In one story arc (the hard-boiled wonderland), a man in his thirties is working as a Calcutec.  His job basically involves him working as a human computer; his consciousness has been split so that one part of his mind can process and encrypt data, while leaving the main part of his mind to function as a normal human's mind.  He goes to work for a professor whose laboratory is hidden in an underground cavern infested with man-eating monsters.  He soon finds that this job has pulled him into some kind of larger conflict.  The second story arc (the end of the world) involves a man arriving in a town surrounded by a wall.  The townsfolk never leave their town, as they understand themselves to be at the end of the world.  The town harbors a herd of unicorns, and all people coming into the town must agree to be separated from their shadows.  The man is sent to work as the Dreamreader at the Library, while he puzzles out the purpose of the town and the significance of the shadows and the unicorns.  Over the course of the novel, it becomes clear that the two stories are actually part of one larger narrative.

Dying to do Letterman, by Steve Mazan

Dying to do Letterman: turning someday into today, by Steve Mazan.  HCI, 2011.  244 pp.  978-0-7573-1627-2.

... in which Steve Mazan, stand-up comedian, learns that he may only have five years to live and sets off to achieve his life-long dream of performing a comedy routine on the Late Show with David Letterman.

This review is of a digital copy provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley.

Steve Mazan's biggest dream as a child was to become a stand-up comedian.  After serving in the Navy for several years and attending college, he was able to begin to pursue a career in comedy in San Francisco.  Just after his career started to take off, and months after meeting the girl of his dreams, Mazan received a cancer diagnosis that left him with anywhere from five to fifteen years left to live.  His biggest dream had always been to someday bring his jokes to the Late Show, as David Letterman had always been one of Mazan's biggest heroes.  With a dedicated team of colleagues, friends and family, Mazan begins his push to achieve his dream.

Nexus: Ascension, by Robert Boyczuk

Nexus: Ascension, by Robert Boyczuk.  ChiZine Publications, 2010.  978-0-981374-8-0.


... in which a crew returns from 30 years of space travel to find that their home world has been completely ravaged by a mysterious plague.

 

This review is of a digital copy provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley.

Nexus: Ascension begins with a crew on the long-haul spaceship Ea waking up from cryonic suspension as they approach their home planet Bh'Haret after thirty years away.  They find that the planet is surrounded by warning satellites, which broadcast the warning "hazard plague hazard plague hazard plague..." over and over again; scans of the planet make it clear that there is no human life.  Because their supplies are dwindling and the nearest planet is too far away, the crew of Ea has no choice but to land on Bh'Haret and risk exposure to the plague.  Upon landing on the planet, they gradually discover that the origins of the plague are mysterious at best.  The crew of Ea have to work together with the crew from another recently-arrived long-haul ship to solve the mystery of the plague and to discover its possible connections to Nexus, a powerful interplanetary government that was previously at odds with the planet Bh'Haret.