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57. The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey. 4. Somehow I missed that this was first in a trilogy until probably the back third of the book, which definitely impacted my sense of the pacing. It's an inventive post-apocalypse filled with bloodthirsty trees, and I love the snarky AI companion. Koli is an idiot, but he's pretty upfront about being an idiot, so it's less irritating and more "how much tolerance do you have for watching someone do something he admits later was incredibly stupid."
58. Pax by Sara Pennypacker. 3.5. Oof. Someone gave my son this book. It's not quite Where the Red Fern Grows but it's a gutpunch of a book, with a lot less resolution than you'd usually expect from a kids' book. A boy runs away to rescue his pet fox and runs straight into a war zone. There's a serious amount of character death, catastrophic injury, and philosophical musing. I think it's also trying a little too hard to be literary. But there are definitely some gorgeous bits and a mature child will have a lot to think about.
59. The Retrieval Artist by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. 4. Fascinating SF spin on noir, in which people are on the run from bonkers alien judicial systems and a femme fatale hires a private eye to locate someone who's gone missing for a very good reason.
60. Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis. 5. Did you like Achilles and Circe and Lavinia? Then dig up a copy of Lewis' spin on Psyche. I think this might actually be one of the loveliest things he's written.
61. Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation by Anne Helen Peterson. 3.5. This takes Peterson's viral essay as a jumping off point and delves into the history of exactly how badly we screwed up our society so that the younger generations ended up so much worse off than their parents. It's interesting, although depressing as all heck.
62. Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal. 5. A ghost story in which the ghost is a major participant, a mystery where the victim has to solve their own murder, a love story where you're pretty sure everything's doomed from the first chapter but is still full of grace, all set in the trenches of World War I.
63. The Will and the Wilds by Charlie N. Holmberg. 4. Emma makes a bargain with a monster partially from fear and partially from compassion, and loses a shred of her soul in the bargain. Can she get her happily-ever-after with the boy next door, or will she go for the demon instead?
58. Pax by Sara Pennypacker. 3.5. Oof. Someone gave my son this book. It's not quite Where the Red Fern Grows but it's a gutpunch of a book, with a lot less resolution than you'd usually expect from a kids' book. A boy runs away to rescue his pet fox and runs straight into a war zone. There's a serious amount of character death, catastrophic injury, and philosophical musing. I think it's also trying a little too hard to be literary. But there are definitely some gorgeous bits and a mature child will have a lot to think about.
59. The Retrieval Artist by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. 4. Fascinating SF spin on noir, in which people are on the run from bonkers alien judicial systems and a femme fatale hires a private eye to locate someone who's gone missing for a very good reason.
60. Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis. 5. Did you like Achilles and Circe and Lavinia? Then dig up a copy of Lewis' spin on Psyche. I think this might actually be one of the loveliest things he's written.
61. Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation by Anne Helen Peterson. 3.5. This takes Peterson's viral essay as a jumping off point and delves into the history of exactly how badly we screwed up our society so that the younger generations ended up so much worse off than their parents. It's interesting, although depressing as all heck.
62. Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal. 5. A ghost story in which the ghost is a major participant, a mystery where the victim has to solve their own murder, a love story where you're pretty sure everything's doomed from the first chapter but is still full of grace, all set in the trenches of World War I.
63. The Will and the Wilds by Charlie N. Holmberg. 4. Emma makes a bargain with a monster partially from fear and partially from compassion, and loses a shred of her soul in the bargain. Can she get her happily-ever-after with the boy next door, or will she go for the demon instead?
