Made of Stardust and Stubbornness – Page 16 – a blog of book reviews and the occasional essay on disability

“Hell Followed with Us” Review

Posted on July 3, 2023October 13, 2024 by Jen

“Hell Followed with Us” by Andrew Joseph White

Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him—the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can’t get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with.

But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC’s leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji’s darkest secret: the cult’s bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all.

Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick’s terms…until he discovers the ALC’s mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own.

Review

This was a really good book! There’s a lot of gore and body horror but I don’t think it was as graphic as it could have been. If it was a movie or a tv show I’d probably have trouble watching because of the gore but in text it didn’t seem so bad. If you read the introduction of the book the author explains where a lot of it came from and how he felt as a teen struggling with his identity. Which is the whole book too.

All of the characters were great and I liked how everything worked out. Even Nick’s “secrets” worked out well in the end. Benji was a great character to get to know. I did wonder if some things could have been explained a little better but at the same time I wasn’t sure how much the characters knew or could explain because they’re all teenagers dealing with the world they’ve been left in. I’m not sure how fully they understood everything to start with. Even Benji’s awareness of everything and understanding of what was happening seemed suspect.

Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “Hell Followed with Us”.

Book Details

Author’s Website: Andrew Joseph White
Publisher / Date: Peachtree Teen, June 2022
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian, Young Adult
Page Count: 416
Completion Date: June 30, 2023

“The Marrow Thieves” Review

Posted on June 25, 2023October 13, 2024 by Jen

“The Marrow Thieves” by Cherie Dimaline

In a futuristic world ravaged by global warming, people have lost the ability to dream, and the dreamlessness has led to widespread madness. The only people still able to dream are North America’s Indigenous people, and it is their marrow that holds the cure for the rest of the world. But getting the marrow, and dreams, means death for the unwilling donors. Driven to flight, a fifteen-year-old and his companions struggle for survival, attempt to reunite with loved ones and take refuge from the “recruiters” who seek them out

Review

It’s always interesting reading apocalyptic stories with Indigenous characters from the Americas, because no matter what you can’t deny that they’ve been through an apocalyptic event already. And this story book makes no apologies for expressing that point repeatedly as the characters discuss everything that’s going on. I really enjoyed reading this book and I the characters are great. There’s a lot oral storytelling in the book as the characters make their way north. The elders of the group explaining the history to the younger ones and then also the various characters in the group telling their own stories of how they got to where they are. While the overall story is rather dark and bleak (how can it not be given the setting?) the ending is somewhat hopeful.

Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “The Marrow Thieves”.

Book Details

Book Cover with a blue background. There is an Indigenous young man on the cover with only half of his face visible. He has black hair and a white strip of paint on his cheek. The cover also has various round stickers of the awards the book has won: GG Books Winner, The Kircus Prize Winner, A Globe and Mail Best Book, The White Pine Award.

Author’s Website: Cherie Dimaline
Publisher / Date: Dancing Cat Books, May 2017
Genre: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Page Count: 240
Completion Date: June 24, 2023

“Depart, Depart!” Review

Posted on June 23, 2023October 14, 2024 by Jen

“Depart, Depart!” by Sim Kern

When an unprecedented hurricane devastates the city of Houston, Noah Mishner finds shelter in the Dallas Mavericks’ basketball arena. Though he finds community among other queer refugees, Noah fears his trans and Jewish identities put him at risk with certain “capital-T” Texans. His fears take form when he starts seeing visions of his great-grandfather Abe, who fled Nazi Germany as a boy. As the climate crisis intensifies and conditions in the shelter deteriorate, Abe’s ghost grows more powerful. Ultimately, Noah must decide whether he can trust his ancestor — and whether he’s willing to sacrifice his identity and community in order to survive.

Book Review

This a novella, so it’s shorter than my usual reads, but I still enjoyed it. It’s another ambiguous ending however I do think the main point of the story is made and clarified. I won’t spoil it by explaining further, but I felt like the main issue is resolved in a satisfying way so while I would have liked to see more I don’t feel like I need to. There’s an interesting group of characters and the way things played out was very realistic.

Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “Depart, Depart!”.

Book Details

The cover is dark toned water ripples at the top. There's a vague figure of a person in the background mostly under the water. The word Depart is reflected upside down in the water making the two words of the title - Depart Depart. The author's name is at the bottom

Author’s Website: Sim Kern
Publisher / Date: Stelliform Press, September 2020
Genre: Science Fiction, Horror
Page Count: 94
Completion Date: June 22, 2023

“The Poppy War” Review

Posted on June 23, 2023October 14, 2024 by Jen

“The Poppy War” (Poppy War No. 1) by R.F. Kuang

When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.

But surprises aren’t always good.

Because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at Sinegard. Targeted from the outset by rival classmates for her color, poverty, and gender, Rin discovers she possesses a lethal, unearthly power—an aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism. Exploring the depths of her gift with the help of a seemingly insane teacher and psychoactive substances, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive—and that mastering control over those powers could mean more than just surviving school.

For while the Nikara Empire is at peace, the Federation of Mugen still lurks across a narrow sea. The militarily advanced Federation occupied Nikan for decades after the First Poppy War, and only barely lost the continent in the Second. And while most of the people are complacent to go about their lives, a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away . . .

Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity . . . and that it may already be too late.

Review

I really enjoyed this book even with the very dark tone. It’s not a light read and while it’s set in a fictional world it’s based heavily on China and China’s various conflicts with other countries. The characters are interesting and I liked all of them even when they weren’t the nicest characters. The main character, Rin, has a complicated background and she’s definitely going to be a complicated character going forward in the next two books. Some might question her choices and mindset (she’s very focused on revenge) but it’s easy to see where all of it comes from based on what she’s been through and what she knows. I’m definitely going to finish the series at some point.

Also – I found this great post and review that provides the historical context for the book: Everything You Need to Know Before You Read The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang by Tiffany at Read by Tiffany and contributing writer & editor Kevin Kaichuang Yang. It provides a lot of information about how everything in the series lines up with history. From the various wars to the character parallels and the landscape. There are spoilers for all three books so consider before reading through it if you like to avoid spoilers.

Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “The Poppy War”.

Book Details

Author’s Website: R.F. Kuang
Publisher / Date: Harper Voyager, May 2018
Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy
Page Count: 544
Completion Date: June 22, 2023

“Noor” Review

Posted on June 21, 2023October 14, 2024 by Jen

“Noor” by Nnedi Okorafor

Anwuli Okwudili prefers to be called AO. To her, these initials have always stood for Artificial Organism. AO has never really felt…natural, and that’s putting it lightly. Her parents spent most of the days before she was born praying for her peaceful passing because even in-utero she was “wrong”. But she lived. Then came the car accident years later that crippled her even further. Yet instead of viewing her strange body the way the world views it, as freakish, unnatural, even the work of the devil, AO embraces all that she is: A woman with a ton of major and necessary body augmentations. And then one day she goes to her local market and everything goes wrong.

Once on the run, she meets a Fulani herdsman named DNA and the race against time across the deserts of Northern Nigeria begins. In a world where all things are streamed, everyone is watching the “reckoning of the murderess and the terrorist” and the “saga of the wicked woman and mad man” unfold. This fast-paced, relentless journey of tribe, destiny, body, and the wonderland of technology revels in the fact that the future sometimes isn’t so predictable. Expect the unaccepted.

Review

This was a quick fun read. All of the characters are cool and the world building was interesting. I did think it sort of ends abruptly and ambiguously. It’s not entirely clear what was going to happen next to the characters though there’s hints that they’ll be okay.

Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “Noor”.

Book Details

The entire cover is yellow/gold with a black women from the chest up facing towards the right but with her head turned slightly forward. The women has her hair up and arranged on the back of her head and is wearing what looks like a jewel on her forehead and a necklace.

Author’s Website: Nnedi Okorafor
Publisher / Date: DAW, November 2021
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy
Page Count: 224
Completion Date: June 20, 2023

“Four Hundred Souls” Review

Posted on June 20, 2023October 14, 2024 by Jen

“Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019” edited by Ibram X. Kendi with Keisha N. Blain

The story begins in 1619—a year before the Mayflower—when the White Lion disgorges “some 20-and-odd Negroes” onto the shores of Virginia, inaugurating the African presence in what would become the United States. It takes us to the present, when African Americans, descendants of those on the White Lion and a thousand other routes to this country, continue a journey defined by inhuman oppression, visionary struggles, stunning achievements, and millions of ordinary lives passing through extraordinary history.

Four Hundred Souls is a unique one-volume “community” history of African Americans. The editors, Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain, have assembled ninety brilliant writers, eighty of whom takes on a five-year period of that four-hundred-year span with ten lyrical interludes from poets. The writers explore their periods through a variety of techniques: historical essays, short stories, personal vignettes, and fiery polemics. They approach history from various perspectives: through the eyes of towering historical icons or the untold stories of ordinary people; through places, laws, and objects. While themes of resistance and struggle, of hope and reinvention, course through the book, this collection of diverse pieces from ninety different minds, reflecting ninety different perspectives, fundamentally deconstructs the idea that Africans in America are a monolith—instead it unlocks the startling range of experiences and ideas that have always existed within the community of Blackness.

This is a history that illuminates our past and gives us new ways of thinking about our future, written by the most vital and essential voices of our present.

Review

This is definitely a book everyone should read but obviously especially white people. There’s 80 essays written by 80 writers covering the span of 400 years broken up in 5 year spans. While each story is very surface level they all explain a lot about what was going on at the time. Everything is important to know and think about. Things haven’t actually changed as much as some would like to believe. The last story covers the span between 2014 and 2019 – COVID is mentioned briefly in the conclusion and acknowledgments. Anyone who’s been paying attention knows what comes next. The epidemic only highlighted what was already true about this country and how white people respond to black people.

Book Details

The book cover is mostly yellow or orange with a line of black down the middle in the shapes of black stick figures representing people walking in a line from top to bottom of the cover. The title and editors are over the top of the cover in white.

Editors’ Website: Ibram X. Kendi with Keisha N. Blain
Publisher / Date: One World, February 2021
Genre / Topics: Essays, History, Race
Page Count: 528
Completion Date: June 20, 2023