Tag Archive: science fiction



This Is How You Lose The Time WarThis Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time travel is interesting. Yeah, but here we have one more reason for war. The espionage is too much. I can’t handle more reasons to feel paranoid. I read to escape the heavy stuff or to study writing. But this didn’t do either job for me.

Cynthia Farrell’s (the Narrator) voice was good for the story, but sadly, I didn’t feel she saved it.

A friend recommended this to me. Time travel piqued my interest. Here, take a look at the blurb:

Goodreads Choice AwardNominee for Best Science Fiction (2019)
Two time-traveling agents from warring futures, working their way through the past, begin to exchange letters—and fall in love in this thrilling and romantic book from award-winning authors Amal-El Mohtar and Max Gladstone.

Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading.

Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.

Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war. That’s how war works. Right?

Cowritten by two beloved and award-winning sci-fi writers, This Is How You Lose the Time War is an epic love story spanning time and space.

Maybe it was the COVID brain. Maybe I’ll try it again someday. Maybe you will love it. It just didn’t do it for me.

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First in Series Free: Sky Hunter by Chris Reher – Must Use Bigger Elephants.


Zen in the Art of Writing
Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Should I start with the good or the bad about this book? Eh, I’ll just let it flow as it comes to me.

This was the paperback. The font was so tiny and the spaces between lines was tiny. I could only digest a page or two at a time.

This is written by a male who only spoke of mankind. Oh, he spoke of his wife a couple times. Once he said, and I can’t find it to quote exactly, that his wife was appropriately quiet in response to his great idea. I know this was a time when women should be the rib and mothers of men. Not real people with their own minds and abilities. This macho writing was what my reading diet was as a young girl. This is why I look so hard for Bechdel approved work. And I don’t just want two fems that talk a little to each other. I want fems of all shapes, sizes, ages, and belief systems. Please! Not another high-heels bimbo! But I digress. (ME?)

In spite of those problems of reading an old book, I found a lot of inspiration toward my own writing. In fact, the best chapter was called, On the Shoulders of Giants. I wanted to quote many line from that. I want to re-read it often. The book is worth the read if only for the tidbits in this section.

My favorite idea found in this book is his interpretation of science fiction and its importance to life itself. Sci-fi is the think-tank for science. Then science invents what we dreamed and it becomes a never-ending idea machine…and fems can add to that in great numbers and less wars!

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Review: Made to Forget…


Made to Forget...
Made to Forget… by Samantha LaFantasie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I was given this book, free for honest review, from the author.

I want to give this book 3 1/2 stars. Though it had a good story and fairly good editing, it took me a while to get into it. I couldn’t decide if I liked the main character, Elsabetha Ellery, or if in fact she could have as much spunk as she had for the condition she was in. Female MC’s do best, in my opinion, if they have spunk. Later, when she feels better, her personality rocks!

It had been a while since I read the blurb about the book. So imagine my surprise when I realized I was reading a sci-fi! No longer was it just a book about amnesia which might be interesting enough, there was much more involved here. This surprise alone would’ve gotten the book 5 stars.

The problem I had with this book was the ending. I finally like the character. I finally like the plot. I like what was going on and I’m scared to death –and – there’s the cliff. I hate cliffhangers! If it wasn’t for the author giving me the book and she was so nice… I would’ve given the book 2 stars. Good editing and plot and character can’t rescue the bad feeling I feel when I’m left hanging like that.

All that aside, I’m hoping there’s a book two. I do want to know what happens next in the story.

Thank you, Samantha LaFantasie, for letting me read your book.

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Review: Ravenous


Ravenous
Ravenous by Heidi Loney
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was given this book free for review. If it wasn’t for that and a fascinating plot, and characters I cared about, I would have not finished reading it.

If there is one thing for sure, that drew me in, I love dystopia books. Not fond of zombies, oops, lombies. (Still not sure where that come from.)

Then I am a frustrated greenhorn farmer living in an apartment, so reading about the commune type living was a welcome relief.

Try as I might, I couldn’t get past the present tense method of presenting the story. It didn’t, as it sometimes does, make the story more gripping. In fact, I felt, it made the characters seem self absorbed, even conceded. I don’t think that was the author’s intent. And then, at the end, it changed suddenly as we learned of Madge’s recent history. Once I was used to being in Madge’s mind I wished the story had included her more as she had a sort of toughness that Calla didn’t show.

As a maternal person, I was glad to see the attitudes of sex and protection, etc. Good things, I think, for young adults to read.

The sequel is still calling to me as I long to see what happens with everyone. I bet the author’s writing has improved. I look forward to seeing more.

Thank you for letting me read your book, Heidi Loney.

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