I didn’t think I’d get the second book so soon after reading the first.

This was a good sequel. The beginning was a bit slow for me as I tried to get back into this world, but I liked the addition of the new characters and the world building. It was interesting and some aspects of this world were funny. The book is partly narrated by the AI known as “Thunderhead” who is a character in the novel that also develops with the characters.

I think the return of certain nemesis was a bit corny, but still well done. I also like that certain villains didn’t turn out to be good, but more vindictive.

The ending was dramatic. There was a lot of death. I continue to like Citra and Rowan. Though I do think both of them have become the typical YA cipher heroes in that a lot of teenagers could put themselves in their situation or would want to.

All in all, a very good second installment in this series.

Read February 19, 2018

It’s been awhile since I felt so warm about a novel. Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy is one of my favourite series and I have fond memories of reading it. The novels alongside the Harry Potter ones were seminal in my reading life as a young adult.

It’s been such a long time since I’ve read a Pullman novel and I did have complicated feelings after The Amber Spyglass, but I have always loved Lyra and Lyra’s World. Pullman has this ability to write about danger and adventure, but his characters are so human, kind, brave, and real. They feel like people you know or want to know. He has adventurers, explorers, beautiful villains, rough heroes, academics, nuns, bears, witches, and so much more.

I went into this novel with little knowledge about the premise, but I had to read it of course. At first, I was a bit sad that it was a prequel but I soon adored Malcolm and his daemon Asta as I did Lyra, Pan, and Will. This book reminded me about how wonderful it was to read The Golden Compass almost twenty years ago.

This book in particular is set before all the drama of the first trilogy so there is a sense of danger to happen early in the books, but there is a lot of coziness. The first half deals heavily with Malcolm’s life and the intrigue of Lyra’s World. Malcolm’s life in Oxford is full of chores, small adventures, and a sprinkling of food. At times, especially with Dr Hannah, the book was more akin to a spy novel than the others before it. I liked the addition of Dr Hannah too; Pullman has always done well with his female characters. I also enjoyed the growth and insight to working girl Alice.

A little quibbles about the book. Once the action gets underway in the last half and third of the book, it does get a bit long. There is one particular creepy and mad villain who keeps coming back and back. There was some odd interludes, but that’s be expected.

Overall, I gave this book five stars and firmly believe this universe is superior to Narnia. I read Narnia before these books and did love them, but these are better classics in almost every way. I also personally love this universe more than Tolkien’s as well which I know is sacrilege, but I was never a big Tolkien fan.

I read this book in one evening and stayed up as well because I had to return it the next day. However, I loved it so much that I do want to reread it. I will buy the hard cover and furthermore, I have decided to buy Everyman’s omnibus of His Dark Materials. I have the trilogy on paperback but it was the edited American edition someone gave me many years ago. I’d like a beautiful hardcover edition to pass on it and reread some of it in advance of the second volume of The Book of Dust. The next one is suppose to feature Lyra and will be a sequel which is something I’ve wanted for years.

Read February 5, 2018.

When I told someone I had finished a young adult sci-fi book, they asked me what I was doing reading young adult books. I find that the young adult demographic novels has had a good range of dystopian and sci-fi novels.

It also made me think about how when I was a young adult or teenager, the young adult genre hadn’t really ballooned the way it has in the last ten years. This was before The Hunger Games, Twilight, and John Green novels. I am somewhat thankful for that and it’s not that I missed much. I sent most of my teens reading classics and adult books. I did have Harry Potter and a few other series, but it was not part of the mainstream book or pop culture of the time. I digress.

Scythe is set in not so distant future, probably a couple of hundred years off. It has some dark ideas about the future and backs it up with some intriguing world building. I wouldn’t say it is the best in terms of details, but this is the first book.

This series’s ideas reflects much more on mortality which is one of the reasons I wanted to read the book. The idea of life without death is a bit abhorrent to me; I have not ever been someone who wants to live forever. I understand human ambition for it, but as this book explores, death is also what makes many people human.

As I was reading this novel, I liked it more objectively than emotionally. I think it was because I was not invested in the two teenage protagonists very much. Maybe it’s because I haven’t been a teenager in a long time. The author does not really explore them as much as I feel he could have. There is a lot of plot in this novel. I did adore two of the mentor characters.

By the end of the novel, I did like the teenagers a bit more and the plot had twisted enough that I am looking forward to the sequel.

Read January 9-10, 2018.