January 2, 2022
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Rating: 5/5

      Ryland Grace finds himself the sole survivor of the Hail Mary voyage, a last ditch effort to save humanity. There is one problem, the mission required him to be put in a coma, and he woke up with no memories of where he is or why. As his memories return he has to navigate a new solar system in an attempt to find a solution to earths problem. Ryland is faced with difficult situations one after another. He is left to face each obstacle completely alone. Or so he thought.
     This is a well written Sci-Fiction book similar to another of Andy Weir's books, The Martian. With much higher stakes, this book exceeded my expectations and is (in my opinion) a far better book than The Martian. It's hard to put down once you've started reading it, and does a good job balancing real science with sci-fiction. Not only did I enjoy the book immensely, but it taught me a few things about the real world and how it works. It is perfect for anyone who enjoys science and reading. 

December 13, 2022

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

Rating 4/5

          Jay Reguero is in his last semester of his senior year in high school planning to just play video games and is doing whatever he wants before going to the University of Michigan. However he soon finds out that his close cousin, Jun is tragically murdered as being a part of President Duterte's drug war. Since Jun lived in the Philippines and no one in his family wants to talk about the incident that occurred, Jay takes initiative and matter into his own heads, flying to the Philippines to discovered the true reasoning behind his cousins death. Hoping to find an answer, conflicts and events that lead to Jun's death forces Jay to reckon the true dark reasoning of why his cousin was murdered. He has to face the truth and realize the part he played in it, along with his other family members. 
          This book is a well written fiction/mystery and being one of my first mysteries, I was severely interested and focused on reading the book with the events that occurred in the book. The plot has an interesting sequence of events that unfold throughout the book that both shocked and wowed me when reading it. There are a lot of twists and unsettling turns throughout the book, with conflicts that played a huge role in this book's theme and story. If you are into mystery and realistic fiction I would definitely recommend this book definitely, and not only was it an interesting book, it taught me a few lessons and real world conflicts that happening outside of the U.S. and places such as the Philippines.

 

Holes by Louis Sachar 
rating: 5/5

young Stanley Yelnats is wrongfully convicted of stealing a pair of tennis shoes. now, he must face the punishment of going to a summer camp, camp green lake, for a few weeks. camp green lake is a juvenile correction camp, in the middle of a dried up lake, no longer holding any water. while at the camp, he makes some friends, which he learns he must be friendly with them if he wants to survive. after living many rough days at the camp, him and zero, his bunk mate plan to escape. they live off of wild food and a hidden stash of peaches until they decide to return. while digging one night, Stanley and Zero find hidden treasure, and realize this could be there way to escape camp green lake. I would suggest this book to anyone, but especially people who like books about adventure.

The Joy Luck Club follows seven different perspectives from Chinese American families. It is an intricate weaving of points of view from cousins, half siblings, daughters telling the story of their mothers, and memories from the past. Though it was a bit confusing, I felt I could mostly keep up with it. One of the most prominent characters was Jing-Mei. The story joins her a few months after her mother died, where she is forced to replace her mom’s spot in the Joy Luck Club. Her aunts and uncles reveal that before her mom died, she (her mom) had found the two daughters she had unavoidably lost decades ago. Jing-Mei’s aunts give her money to go and visit her half sisters in China. 

The rest of the perspectives, in a way, center around this one. 

I think this book was very well written, and although it was more complex than I usually read, I felt I could keep up with it pretty well. I also enjoyed the perspective of it being in the past. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in a not thrilling, but still riveting, story. 

January 1, 2023

Exile’s Honor by Mercedes Lackey.

Rating:4 / 5

Alberich is a young captain in the karsite army. He spent most of his childhood studying and training in the karsite battle schools. However, he had an uncanny ability to sense what was coming; a “sixth sense”. He quickly rose through the ranks becoming one of the youngest captains in history. Karse has always had one enemy more prominent than the others, Valdemar. Valdemar contains witches and white demons. These are people who wield magic, and demons who are pure white on which the witches ride on. On one fateful mission in particular something goes drastically wrong.

Exile’s Honor is a great fantasy novel. However, this book did not meet my expectations and was a very political/personal novel. It took less of an action approach and peeked into the characters’ everyday lives. The plot was amazingly done and the tests were nothing short of amazing. I would recommend this book to people who like knowing the characters more.