science fiction

Re-read: Animorphs by K. A. Applegate

Over the last two months, I (re-)read the entire 54-book Animorphs series,* originally published by Scholastic in 1996-2001.

This series was formative for me. It, along with Brian Jacques’s Redwall, kicked off my interest in SFF. I remember thinking “‘science fiction’ must mean something that could be true—like people being infested by Yeerks and no one knowing about it.” I remember ordering the books via the Scholastic Book Club in the late 90s, through newsprint catalogs that looked like this.

Despite these memories, I had only ever finished about two-thirds of the series, and I knew nothing of how it ended, except grimly.

Present day: I and a few co-readers had been talking about returning to the series for some time. The ebooks are freely available on the Internet, with the author’s approval. In 2022, I could find no greater comfort than indulging in the stories I’d loved as a child. Thus: my Great Animorphs Re-Read. There are far too many books in the series to do individual reviews, but I will be sharing my big takeaways from a craft and storytelling perspective (series-end spoilers ahead).

So, without further ado…

Books I Read: September 2020

Didn’t have a ton of energy to write full-fledged reviews for books this month, so here’s a quick roundup of some novellas I read alongside the Elemental Logic series.

Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children #1) by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com, 2016)

★★☆☆☆

Another one where I’m in agreement with the politics but the execution didn’t work for me. I’m especially here for the ace and trans representation, but, while I felt the trans character’s transness was revealed elegantly, the ace character going “I’m asexual; this is what that means” and providing a dictionary definition was exactly how I don’t like to see exposition done.

The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps (The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps #1) by Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor.com, 2015)

★★★★☆

For how plotless most of this novella is, I loved it! The vernacular surprised me in the beginning, but then I was in for the ride, and appreciated the tension between the narrative/dialogue voices. I also enjoyed the worldbuilding and vivid characters.

Annabel Scheme and the Adventure of the New Golden Gate (Annabel Scheme, #2) by Robin Sloan (via author’s website, 2020)

★★★★☆

Since I enjoyed the first Annabel Scheme novella more than either of the author’s novels, I was excited for this. Fun little romp, with some lines that are just *chef’s kiss* and an ending full of heart, though it kind of goes sideways in the middle.

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries #4) by Martha Wells (Tor.com, 2018)

★★★★☆

Plotty things happen to Murderbot that force it to confront its previous team of human handlers. This entry felt like a strong resolution to the events of the first four novellas, and getting to see the way the humans interacted with Murderbot was moderately uplifting.

Emergency Skin; The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin

Emergency Skin by N. K. Jemisin (Amazon Original Stories, 2019)

★★★★★

Cogent, precise, firmly hopeful novelette that uses the skin metaphor to perfect effect.

And yet…

The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin (Orbit, 2020)

DNF audiobook at 29%. I’m sure I’m in agreement with the politics, but I wasn’t as gripped by ~city magic~ (or Lovecraftian horror, even the good parts) as I needed to be to ride this one out.

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon (Akashic Books, 2017)

★★★★★

(content warning: implied rape, domestic abuse, child harm, self-harm)

A generation ship travels through space, its decks stratified along the racist/classist lines of the antebellum South. In the ship’s lowdeck slums, Aster, an alchematician and botanist, investigates her mother’s mysterious suicide and its link to the untimely illness of the ship’s holy Sovereign.

First of all, I just loved this whole premise, which brought to mind Snowpiercer or perhaps The Book of the Long Sun (which I’ve yet to read). I was fascinated by the cultural, linguistic, and technological drift encapsulated in the first scene, where Aster (who can travel unencumbered between decks) helps a family build an alcohol stove to keep warm, and the recipe is so valuable as to merit one of their warmest cloaks in return.

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries, #3) by Martha Wells (Tor.com, 2018)

★★★★☆

A Murderbot entry with intrigue and horror on a creepy abandoned station. The Murderbot books are like bite-sized #relatable snark candy, and this entry was no different, except it had the welcome addition of Murderbot having to deal with their ~feelings~.

I said, “Consultant Rin has no additional intel,” because why should I do her work for her when I wasn’t even getting a hard currency card, am I right?

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor, 2018)

★★★☆☆

A novel of alternate history, beginning with a 1952 meteorite strike that rapidly warms the earth, ultimately exploring sexism and racism in the context of Apollo-era space exploration. One of the few books that the staff of The Bookstore unanimously like. Pretty flawless: I enjoyed it and thought it delivered on everything it was trying to do, but didn’t connect with it more strongly than that.