Dark Eden by Chris Beckett

We are taken to a breathtakingly original world in which the "family" rules and the world is dark, sometimes dark dark or even dark dark dark. The only light comes from the local fauna which inhabits the Circle Valley, in which the children are batfaced and clawfooted due to inbreeding, as they are all descendants of Tommy and Angela, the two who decided to stay behind on Eden. But everything is not going well for John Redlatern. After 163 years and now over 500 people the food is running out, space is limited and John decides to press out into the Dark. 

The originality of the world is what first drew me into the fantastic novel which won the Arthur C. Clark Award and has been praised by many. The novel was a little slow to start as we grow accustomed to the world of Eden and our main characters. John Redlatern is brave, his cousin Gerry will follow him off a cliff, Jeff who is Gerry little clawfooted brother and Tina who is smitten for John. But once this was out of the way the story begins to pick up as we relate to John and the questions that he raises about the world in which he grew up and the customs that go along with it.

I like to think of John as a anti-hero, since he has his flaws and he fully admits them, but he still pushes on with his goal because he knows that it is the right thing to do. On top of that there are times when you almost hate John for the way he thinks and acts, but it is all to achieve something greater. John is an everyman who wants to change the world.

I would recommend this novel over and over again. Some people may object to it saying it is dirty and obscene, but through some of these scenes we better understand the culture and the hardships of our characters lives. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story by Chris Beckett and couldn't put it down once I got into it.

Overall: 4/5

Book Press Release

http://crownpublishing.com/news/arthur-c-clarke-award-winning-author-chris-becketts-brilliant-us-debut-dark-eden/#.U2ghVoFdV8E

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review

The Flight of the Silvers by Daniel Price

I absolutely loved this, while it was an easy read, it still captivated me and I couldn't put down the book, especially the last third. I have to agree with the way the author described himself as being more Joss Whedon than Ray Bradbury. It is an easily accessible sci-fi novel. The size may be intimidating to some, but the easy of reading easily makes up for this. Basically the entire novel takes place in a parallel universe, which split from our own during an event which forever made the two almost unrecognizable from the other. They use something called tempis, more or less a force which they can control, for just about everything, from running faster to creating barriers to flying cars. The group with we follow were all in the same general area when they passed to the other universe and form a group and develop their talents, in order to eventually, hopefully save this universe. Their talents range from running faster, turning their body into tempis, passing notes through time, aging or de-aging objects and things, projecting things from the past, or lastly being able to follow strings and see the future. All of these are very well depicted in the novel and I won't explain them here.

I would suggest this to anyone who is not well versed in science fiction or are new to the genre as a whole. This is also going to become a series of novels, with the second one being written currently, something I can't wait for.

Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh

This is Adam Sternbergh and it is a fantastic one. I picked this one up because it was in Barnes and Nobles authors you should check out section and boy were they write. We follow our main character of Spademan, a hit man, or how he describes himself, a garbageman. I don't know if it is right to call it a dystopian future novel, but at the same time I feel that it is fitting. Since most of the world is still the same-ish, but New York is now a wasteland. Spademan is given a job to find a girl, the daughter of a famous "evangelical" and "throw her away", he finds her and sees that she is not one to mess with, she has a little bit of mean streak, and when he finally catches up to her, he finds she has a few secrets to hide. Spademan must then navigate throw the real world and the fantasy world which most now escape all hours of the day and ensure he doesn't end up the one dead.

The grit all throughout is truly stunning. This is a short read, but one that is worth it. It is also regarded as good enough that supposedly they are creating a movie based on it with Denzel Washington attached to it.

Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart

I honestly don't made me want to read this novel. The title alone would normally turn me away, but again very intriguing. This novel is the work of Gary Shteyngart, who has done various novels but they all typically satirical, but I would also classify this as a near-dystopian future as well. To give a little back ground, basically the USA has gone to shit, we owe way too much money and all of the companies have merged and basically all the girls are sluts, by today's standards (I don't like using the word slut but I can't think of a better word to describe the situation). The girls basically have all of their sexual escapades posted online and are more or less proud of them. Lenny, our main character, has been in Europe for a while and is now forced to come back to the States to work at for his friends company aimed at creating eternal life, something Lenny desperately wants, he is afraid of death, but then he meets Eunice, who turns everything in Lenny's life on its head. He no longer strives for eternal life or thinks about it as often. I won't go any further to avoid spoiling anything, but in the end it isn't necessarily happy or sad.

I can't stress how important I think Gary Shteyngart's novel is. It deals with people who are constantly glued to their electronic devices and many don't know how to get away from it. On top of that, everyone is constantly being rated on their looks (or fuckability in the novel) and personality and it is something you can't escape. Everywhere people walk their credit scores are shown and then typically encouraged to spend their money. Our main character is thought of an outsider since he owns a few "doorstops" or in our terms books, and Eunice states that she doesn't know how to read, but only scan to look for information see will need (this is something I think is incredibly true in our current world). Then on top of it all we almost have a "Big Brother" type government which invades peoples lives to encourage them to spend and stamps out dissidents with violence.

I think this book is a must read for everyone of my generation, I'm 23, and a interesting read for everyone else. It takes a look at our world and moves about 15 years into the future. The only people who shouldn't read this are people who have problems with some explicit sex scenes in novels. They are very detailed and while not degrading, they do clearly explain the interactions our characters are having.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

This is another classic which I decided to come back to recently. I read this a few years back while in High School and again I just let it go in one ear and out the other. I wish that I hadn't (looking back, I think this with a lot of novels). In this dystopian future books are no more, and it is illegal to own them. There are firemen who go around and burn any books that they find. I can't think that for some reason we, as a society, are headed to this point. So few people actually read now, and the number is always dropping. Kids no longer want to read, they would rather be enveloped in the virtual world and give up everything they have around them. I hope that we never reach this point but again it wouldn't surprise me if we did (see my next post about Super Sad True Love Story).

Now to the book, it is regarded as a classic for a reason, and there is not a whole lot I can add to this review that hasn't been said a hundred times. Guy, our main protagonist, decides to rebel against the norm, and starts to keep books. Everything changed one night during which a tragic event occurred. After that he is forever changed and decides to see what all the fuss is when it comes to reading books. After the events which unfold he has a new outlook on life and decides to commit his life to preserving the wonder that is reading, in one way or another.

This novel is eye opening in that while it was written in 1953 it is still easy to relate to. If you are into classic dystopian novels, read this one. Again it is a classic for a reason.

Lexicon by Max Barry

I know I was always told to never judge a book by its cover, but that was what first caught my eye about this book (mostly because it is a giant eye (unless you have the original cover and then its still pretty cool)). I read the synopsis of this book online and was intrigued to start out with. The idea of a school in which students are taught to persuade using words who can eventually become "poets" if they are good enough to graduate. They persuade people by assessing who they are and then accessing the brain, I won't go into any more detail because I don't want to spoil anything but to put it as simply as I can, words become weapons. And then on the other hand there is a guy who is ambushed at an airport and people telling him he is someone of great importance, who could potentially save the world.

This book grabbed me from the very beginning and never let me go. I couldn't put it down. I read a lot of reviews of people unable to follow the story because it jumps around a little bit, but if you  have anything up there in your brain you should be able to follow everything. While reading, I just knew that the two characters of Wil and Emily had to connect in someway, and they do, and in a way I would have never guessed. The characters are very well fleshed out and I could relate to their troubles. While there are deaths in the book, and it doesn't necessarily have the happiest ending, I think it is better that way. Everything question is answered and nothing left un-turned.

This book is one that everyone needs to read. It has been listed on multiple top lists of the year including NPR and The Times. It is utterly spellbinding and I wish there was a sequel to it so I never had to finish it.

1984 by George Orwell

This is a classic, and I think more relevant as time progresses than it would have been when it was originally written. We are ever more connected and therefore, always have less of a private life. We post everything online via Facebook, twitter, Instagram, or whatever else there is out there. How long is it until we don't have a choice, but everything we do is out there for someone to watch, and with the whole NSA surveillance of recent, Big Brother is ever becoming more true.

I first read this book while I was in High School, and while it was interesting, I never really grasped the whole idea behind the book. Now 7 years later, I was able to wrestle with the concepts and the ideas behind the book and it took on a whole new meaning to me. I absolutely love this book. It is incredibly well written, the ideas are easy to relate to, and the scares are real. I loved the character of Winston, the every-man, the person to whom we can all connect and feel his emotions. I felt all of the hate toward BB in the same way that Winston did, I learned to loathe the conformity that existed and wanted nothing more than to escape, even if by only writing in a journal (who knows maybe that is why I am writing this blog?).

This is a book that I would recommend everyone to read, even if you have read it before. The concepts are becoming more real everyday and the warnings evident throughout the pages ever more clear. Go and pick this book up and finish it at least one more time in your life.

Getting Started...

To start this thing out, I will be doing book reviews, mostly of sci-fi or fantasy or just plain fiction books. I love to read and do so every day. I'm going to start out with some of the books I just finished and then will be adding some more as I finish them up.