In the second part of the Bobiverse series, the self-replicating Bob probes have now reached dozens of star systems, and their mission has grown far beyond exploration. With Earth in a nuclear winter, the Bobs take on the monumental task of coordinating humanity’s evacuation. In book 2, Earth isn’t the only place in trouble. In the nearby stars, two other civilizations face extinction, and the Bobs can’t help but get involved.
Meanwhile, a new threat threatens to end humans – the aliens called “Others.” Although their presence remains mostly peripheral, it’s clear that they will have to be dealt with.
The challenge that this book faces is that we now have lots of bobs and neither gets enough spotlight to make a difference between them, except maybe Bob 1. But Bob 1 doesn’t do anything interesting.
5*/5, I liked the book very much and recommend the series. My copy is part of the Nebula series, which has matching. Bob sits next to the Murderbot and Silo.
October was a busy month and I didn’t have much time for entertainment. I still managed to finish five books.
Best Book
The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin – my third book by this author and it might also be the best so far. An ancient Egypt-like world, where magic is collected from dreams, and dreaming is visiting the land of the dead. The priests gathering the magic are at risk of taking too much and losing humanity. The idea is not too novel but the whole story felt sufficiently different, alien, and better. Overall, a clear 5/5 and one of the best #1s for the month on this blog for the year.
Turbo Twenty-Three by Janet Evanovich – where Stephanie Plum will investigate a person turned into a giant ice cream bar. A nice, ice-creamy bubble gum with a good plot. Also 5/5.
and 4. The first two books about Jake Longly by D.P. Lyle. A former baseball player turned detective, a series glowing in 70s style neon with a bit of exploitation. Overall very promising. I gave them 4/5 and ordered the 3rd book. Looking forward to reading it, once it gets home.
Worst Book
Caraval by Stephanie Garber – I felt tricked by that one. It started well but turned into a slime. 3/5 – not for me. Probably won’t look for the continuation but who knows.
Caraval is a romantasy book by Stephanie Garber. I rarely give ratings under 3/5 because books I don’t like I also DNF and rarely mention. However, there’s an exception – trick me that a book is good by writing an awesome beginning and then a roasting on the blog becomes possible. So rather than a photo with the book cover, here’s an augmented photo of soap, which I find appropriate to the following text.
Donatella and Scarlett are two teenage sisters, daughters of the cruel Governor Dragna. They endure an eternity of their father’s beatings and psychological torture while waiting for arranged marriages to either secure their futures or end them. This grim situation fuels their desire to escape but so far, they haven’t managed to.
Their hope for an exit is the Caraval – a five-day fantasy festival run by the mysterious host known as Legend. The Caraval is a magical Disneyland for adults, where reality blurs with illusion and the ultimate magical currency is time. The sisters’ hope is that by reaching this show, some kind of miracle will help them break free from their father’s iron fist.
The premise is actually quite promising. The story begins strongly, with Scarlett’s annual letters to Legend – honest, intriguing, and filled with hope. But the promise quickly fades. Scarlett and Donatella are, IMO, absurdly written characters, and the way adults treat them is just as implausible. Neither their father, nor Legend and his actors, feel remotely believable. Add to that the fact that three insanely handsome grown men keep trying to seduce Scarlett, and the whole thing becomes uncomfortable. The only visible “virtue” of the two sisters seems to be their youth.
The Caraval lasts five days, during which Scarlett is expected to fall in love and jump into a new life with one of the three men mentioned above. The issue? At least two of them (if not all three) appear to be part of the Caraval itself. The central mystery of the novel is which one of them is good, if any. This changed a number of times. Unfortunately, I guessed most of it early on and was mostly annoyed by the abusive nature of all relationships in the book.
Scarlett’s motivation to join the Caraval is also inconsistent. For most of the book, she resists the idea entirely. She just wants to marry her fiancé and obey her father’s will, while Donatella is the one actually trying to escape and the role of a sitting duck doesn’t suit her well. The beatings from the father also feel oddly pointless, especially since Scarlett is already compliant and Donatella is too young.
Despite the weak characterization and messy plot, there were some enjoyable ideas. I liked the concept of paying for things time or secrets. The enchanted opinionated dresses with feelings of their own were fun, and the fantasy theme-park aesthetic had its charm reminding the Phantom of the Opera. The scavenger-hunt structure of the game itself worked reasonably well. But ultimately, this book seems more suited to fans of vampire romance stories. The kind where 200-year-old immortals fall for clumsy teenage girl.
The book is centered around feelings. It’s a powerful visual performance with little logic or consistency.
The world N.K. Jemisin builds in The Killing Moon is both incredible and deeply disturbing. It’s an Ancient-Egypt-like planet, where magic is drawn from dreams and death by a small group of Gatherers. Human souls are sacred but also sources of magical energy, harvested and consumed by the priests for healing and other purposes.
Only a chosen few, the Gatherers, are trained to collect this dream-magic. They’re moving through the city like thieves, stealing their tax rather than getting it voluntarily. The power of magic gives them a constant urge to take too much, to cross the line between service and corruption. Once that line is crossed, the Gatherer becomes a Reaper, a dangerous, soulless creature, that can end all life.
The concept reminded me of the Cosmere novels by Brandon Sanderson where all magic comes down to soul units, or The Runelords: The Sum of All Men by David Farlang where magic is forcefully extracted from humans at a great cost. Jemisin’s take is equally disturbing, closer to Farlang’s magical system than Sanderson’s. It’s disturbing and unpleasant but this alien world, where human life and honor are worth nothing to the powerful, is not supposed to be nice.
It’s not a comforting kind of fantasy, kind of the opposite of books like Legends & Lattes, and even worse than the Broken Earth series I recently featured here. Despite that, N.K. Jemisin is at the top of her game. Her writing is rich, her world-building precise, and her imagination is uncompromising. 5*/5
Last month I read less than the recent months. Maybe I just didn’t click with the books I picked up, or maybe life was too busy. Either way, my stack was smaller, but there were still some highlights.
Best book
The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin – The second book in The Broken Earth trilogy was great. In this world, the Evil Earth is a living, hostile creature. People with magical power can bend volcanos and seismic forces to their will. It’s apocalyptic, imaginative, and also a slow read. This was my only ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ book for me this month.
Other books
The Last Ronin (Collection) – A comic book that explores if we’ll like a story where the Ninja Turtles are dying or dead. The answer is that enough drama-loving readers gave this thing a high rating on Goodreads but I do not recommend it. The art is beautiful but the story is ⭐⭐ at best.
Veselin.blog 