scifi books

Review: Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee

~ megs14malloy

Dragon PearlDragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Middle Grade Adventure at its BEST!!!

This rollicking space opera follows 13-y.o., Min, on her quest to find out what happened to her older brother, Jun.

When an investigator shows up at her house, accusing her older brother, Jun, of deserting the Space Forces, Min knows something must be wrong. Jun and Min have dreamed of joining the Forces their whole lives and going on great adventures together. Now that he is in, Min knows that Jun would never disgrace his family by deserting.

Forced to flee her home, Min sets out in search of the truth with the hopes of clearing her brother’s name and bringing him home. Very quickly, Min is forced to rely on her intelligence and quick wit, as she eludes security, works in a gambling den, stows away on a ship, impersonates a Space Forces Cadet and so much more. She discovers her own strength and makes some great new friends along the way.

Min is a really well-rounded, enjoyable character to follow along with. I grew attached to her and loved watching her development over the course of the book. The side-characters, as well, were great. Humorous and likable, they truly added to the story, particularly Sujin and Haneul. It was also great to see a non-binary side character play such an important role in a Middle Grade story.

The ending was fantastic, but really it was fantastic the whole way through. Nice, fast pace, smooth transitions from different scenes and a strong build-up to the end. I think it left off in an excellent spot to continue on with the story. I am definitely hoping for more books in this world and with these characters. It is my understanding that we will be getting more. (fingers crossed)

The bottom line is, I really had a blast (pun intended) reading this book which, to me, is what Middle Grade is all about. It should be a joy to read a Middle Grade adventure book and I was not disappointed with this one. The writing was very, very strong. I was swept up in the world and I thought the sci-fi elements were top-notch; no surprise considering the expertise and experience that Yoon Ha Lee brings to the table.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Disney Book Group and Rick Riordan Presents, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review. I truly appreciate the opportunity. I think RRP Imprint is providing a great service to our book community by offering a platform for diverse voices from around the world to share their myth, legends and folklore. I cannot wait to read more of Min in the future!

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Review: Killing Adam by Earik Beann

~ megs14malloy

Killing AdamKilling Adam by Earik Beann
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

With nonstop action and a hella good storyline, this high tech scifi thriller definitely kept me engaged from start to finish.

Set in the not too distant future, our world runs on ARCs. No, not Advanced Readers Copies, but Altered Reality Chips. These chips, inserted directly into the brain, allow people to experience anything they want at any time. They are basically living in their heads in a virtual reality world.

People are so addicted to their ARCs, they are tuned in all the time and thusly, tuned out from our ‘real’ world almost completely. This makes goings pretty tough for the minority of humans who are ARC-incompatible. Our protagonist, Jimmy Mahoney, is one of those few. Due to a head injury he sustained during his career as a professional football player, Jimmy is unable to have an ARC and therefore unable to connect with pretty much the rest of society, including his wife Michelle.

Jimmy’s main interactions come from his time at a support group for other ARC-incompatibles. Here he meets Trixie, a mysterious woman who ends up recruiting Jimmy to join the fight against the singularity running the system behind the ARCs, Adam. This is putting it in the simplest of terms but basically that is how our main action begins.

Overall, I had a really great time reading this novella. It is short, just over 200-pages, and is packed with action and intrigue. The whole story takes place over only a couple of days. It would have been great if it could have delved a bit deeper into the world and the characters but I understand not every book can be 400-pages long.

There were a couple of cringe-worthy sexual comments/jokes towards the beginning that were a big turn off but I am glad I stuck with it because the story definitely deserves to be read. If you are the kind of reader who likes your scifi to be so close to the truth you could see the premise actually happening in our own world in 15-to-25 years than this is absolutely a book you should pick up. It was close enough to home and what is going on currently in our tech sphere that it made it not only plausible but creepy AF.

I would definitely pick up more books by this author in the future and want to thank him for providing me with a copy of this book to read and review. I always appreciate the opportunity to provide my feedback!

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