Review: The Englishman

The Englishman by Douglas Stuart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"The Englishman" by Douglas Stuart, 2020

Coming off just reading Shuggie Bain, I found myself wanting more. Young Mongo is still off on the horizon at the time of writing this review, but luckily I found "The Englishman," a short story published in the New Yorker.

There were enough similar elements from "Shuggie Bain" that it was easy enough to imagine "The Englishman" is a story about Shuggie in his collegiate years. In the story, William the Englishman and "Casper" (the pet name for William's object of desire) went to the theater to watch a play about two inner-city boys finding their first love. Could that play be called "Young Mongo?". Yeah, that might be a leap or a little meta, but hey, don't knock me for imagining.

I liked the story just like I like my lemons, acidy sour, yet somehow sweet.

I rate it a 4 out of 5.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/09/14/the-englishman

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Review: "Remote Control" by Nnedi Okorafor, 2021

Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"Remote Control" by  Nnedi Okorafor, 2021

A science-fiction Afrofuturism (or AfricanFuturism) novella follows a young girl in a near-future version of Ghana who has the power to "snuff" life and becomes the "Adopted Daughter of Death."

Though classified science-fiction, Remote Control is the kind of narrative that seamlessly blends various genres; a coming-of-age tale and, a road novel, a survival story with elements of fantasy. The novella explores solitude and grief, told through the eyes of Sankofa/Fatima, as she travels between Wulugu, Ghana, Lagos, and places in-between.

I can easily see this story adapted to a PG-13 Netflix-level superhero-type movie. The characters are interesting and likable enough for me to want to invest more of my time in this "universe" the author is building.  

I get a sense that "Americans" or "American corporations" are the baddies in this series (at least, I think this will be a series given the way things ended.)  Whenever Sankofa encounters someone with a (USA) American accent or objects of an American origin, something terrible happens in the story. Just a theory...

Coming in at about 156 (Kindle) pages, it's an easy-breezy read that you can consume in an afternoon. 

I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars.

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Review: "Shuggie Bain", by Douglas Stuart, 2021

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you read this book and feel nothing, you're probably dead inside.

It's a heartbreaking story of a young son's love of his alcoholic mother. Set in the 1980s in Glasgow, precocious and young Shuggie Bain struggles to care for his mother Agnes as she descends into the depths of alcoholism. It is also a story of Shuggie's discovery of his sexuality eclipsed in the backdrop of Agnes' addiction.

It is a pretty long book, about 900 pages, and spends almost the first half setting up characters, environments, and lulling me into the bane of the characters' existence and with little mention of Shuggie. 

Once we got into the book's second half, it was nonstop tears for me. It was an emotional roller coaster through and through. Simultaneous tears of joy and sadness dripped from my eyes. The story evoked such profound feelings from me, caused me to reconsider my positions on certain subjects, and most of all gave a glimpse of what life might have been like for someone who experienced the hardships they endured growing up with an alcoholic mother.

While the book is fiction, the author draws heavily from his own experiences growing up. Shuggie Bain is Douglas Stuart's debut novel and is a 2020 Booker Prize winner (among other awards lists). The audiobook version is absolutely captivating with its reader's performance. I don't have an ear for The Scottish accent, so I had to listen actively. Prose coupled with Scottish slang from the 1980s, understanding specific passages was challenging for me. I ended up getting the Kindle version as well so that I could go back to the portions I did not audibly understand and re-read for comprehension.

I love this story so much, in a way that one can love a heartbreaking story I suppose, that I ended up buying the audiobook and Kindle ebook for someone. I'm a little sad that I have to return this loan to the public library, but I'm also happy that I'm returning this to the public library so that someone else can enjoy this story. There is a hardbound book with the author's signature that I've got my eye on now.

I rate this book 5 out 5 stars.

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Review: Earth Unaware (The First Formic War, #1), by Orson Scott Card, Aaron Johnston, 2012

Earth Unaware by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Earth Unaware (The First Formic War, #1), by Orson Scott Card, Aaron Johnston, 2012

The First Formic War is a prequel to the Ender's Game Saga that covers Earth's first encounter with the Formics (Hormigas). Earth Unaware is the first of three in the First Formic War Saga.

The first couple of chapters is very ranty and sermon-like. Towards the end of the book, new characters are introduced (on top of the many characters and threads already in play) without any seeming connective tissue between them. I suppose these new characters are setting up the next book. The storytelling around this part of the book feels a bit disjointed-- possibly due to having two writers???

I was on the fence about continuing with this saga, but I think there are enough morsels I found tasty to make me want to see what happens next.

One of my favorite quotes is, "Guilt is the greatest weapon because its cuts rarely heal and aims for the heart."

I rate this book 3.5 out of 5 stars.


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Review: MPD-Psycho, Volume 5

MPD-Psycho, Volume 5 by Eiji Otsuka
My rating: 2 of 5 stars



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Review: Star Trek Destiny: Lost Souls (book 3 of 3)

Lost Souls by David Mack
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The final installment to this trilogy nicely bookended the origin and demise of the Borg. The story revolves around three starships captained by Ezri Dax, Riker, and Picard and Erika Hernandez who is living with the Caeliar. A smaller portion, but no less important, is spent telling the story of the MACOs stranded with the Caeliar's city of Mantilis-- where the Borg originated.

I liked everything about this book except for two things; Picard made to seem so impotent and unlike his established character, and Troi painted out to be a real b*itch without a good reason. 

Review: Warlord Sky by Cynthia Sax

Warlord Sky by Cynthia Sax
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

“Warlord Sky” by Cynthia SaxI don't think this book was for me. It's described as a science fiction/fantasy romance, but I only found an inkling of what could qualify as science fiction, fantasy, or romance. If you consider robots (like Roombas and drones) whirring about while two humanoid aliens have sex, then yes I supposed it fits the bill.There isn't much plotting either other than the main female protagonist having a "big secret" that she will have to divulge to the main male protagonist and hope he will keep it a secret as well. In the end, the storyline only bobbed along a few inches- a lot of teasing of the "will he or won't he, will he accept my secret or not" took place.  Perhaps if the book wasn't short, there could have been progress, but I don't think I could have read anymore "alien sex will he or won't he".I give it 1 star out of 5I’ve also filed it under #HateRead

Star Trek Destiny : Book 2 - Mere Mortals

Mere Mortals by David Mack
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In this installment of the trilogy, we spend a lot of time with Innyx and Erika. There seems to be a lot of "human" drama among the Columbia's crew who are prisoners on Caeliar. The starships and captains originating from the TNG/DS9/VOY era seem to do a lot of traveling through subspace apertures, or at least trying to. The ending of the book felt a little messy. Characters like Chakotay, the Hirogen, T'Karran were thrown into the mix and battling each other-- which doesn't make sense to me as I thought the main antagonist in this book were the Borg.

The ending, just like the previous book, was a cliffhanger.

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Review: Gods of Night

Gods of Night by David Mack
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Though beta-canon, it was nice to revisit various Star Trek characters (pre-Discovery era) working together and to also see what happened to them after the events of ST:Voyager but before ST:Picard.

Admittedly, a guilty pleasure....

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