It's Monday 8/12! What Are You Reading?

Whew, busy week...and an even busier one ahead! I got lots of writing done during the week and finished an article that was due, plus errands, groceries, etc. This weekend was a major shopping expedition to Target, Trader Joe's, and Whole Foods (all clustered together about 30 min away), though it was far easier with my husband along to help! We recently found out that our son is gluten intolerant (possibly celiac), so although we normally eat Paleo, we weren't too strict about the grains side of it (especially him, as a 24-year old!). Lots of changes now, so we tried to get him plenty of easy gluten-free options. Sunday, since it was "only" low 80's and slightly lower humidity, we did some much-overdue yard work, but I went WAY past my limits (I have a chronic illness that restricts me). So, the front bed looks better, and I weeded most of it, but I was wiped out afterward. And, did you know that Saturday was National Lazy Day?? (thanks, Twitter) We should have celebrated that special day!

Of course, we always enjoy our books! Here's what we've been reading this past week:

Last week, I mentioned that I was struggling with a Big Book for my summer challenge (from my big pile!), a classic I have wanted to read for years, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. I was finding it repetitive and tedious and really was not enjoying it. I rarely set a book aside without finishing it (it's a high bar for me, like I did set aside the one that was narrated by a pond when the mother began having sexual fantasies about her 13-year old son - yup, I'm out.) I posted polls on Facebook and Twitter and was inundated by responses basically saying, "Life's too short and there are too many great books out there"! So, a little more than halfway through Catch-22, I set it aside. I may pick it up again later, but the relief I felt was a sign that it was the right move for me.

So, my next Big Book selection was in the total opposite direction - a fast-paced, post-apocalyptic thriller, City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin, which is the third and final book in the trilogy that began with The Passage and The Twelve. I love this series, as do my husband and son (my husband already finished it, and my son, like me, finished the first two). I am LOVING this book so far! It begins just three years after The Twelve ended, and though I learned my lesson and read a long synopsis of the last book online before I started this one, it did a decent job of reminding me how the last one ended and who everyone was (this time I knew to look for a list of characters at the back). It's engrossing and compelling, the kind of book that's making me stay up too late every night and read at random times when I would normally feel the need to be productive!

On audio, I am still listening to another Big Book, Vincent and Theo by Deborah Heiligman, a YA novel based on the real-life lives of Vincent Van Gogh and his beloved younger brother, Theo. This was a freebie from SYNC this summer. I have heard great things about this book, but I am enjoying it even more than I expected to. It's a fascinating biography of Van Gogh, but it is also an in-depth look at his family and his childhood and of the time (Europe in the 1860's-90's). It's so interesting to hear how his artistic talent and career began but also how his mental illness began to show small signs even from childhood. References to particular paintings as his artistic talent grows keep sending me to my laptop to look at them, though I just realized there are drawings in the print version, so I requested it from my library - some books just demand both audio and print! The novel is based on over 600 letters between the brothers and between them and other members of the family.

My husband, Ken, just finished a thriller with a great sense of humor, August Snow by Stephen Mack Jones. I met Jones at Booktopia this year, and my husband and I both enjoyed his second novel in the series, Lives Laid Away, so I bought book one while I was there. It was perfect for his short business trip last week, and he enjoyed it very much, even more than the second one. Now, it's my turn next! This will definitely be among my fall reads during the RIP Challenge.

Our 24-year old son, Jamie, is enjoying Death's Merchant, book one in the Common Among Gods series by Justan Henner. He says it's a really original story about gods and humans, but not the familiar Greek or Roman gods. I see it's been described as an "epic fantasy" and "1200-page doorstopper full of captivating characters and humor." Yup, that sounds right up his alley! I can tell he's enjoying it because he's been reading a lot.






 Blog posts from last week:

TV Tuesday: Hanna - combination thriller and coming-of-age story - totally unique and compelling

Fiction Review: The Book of M by Peng Shepherd - an original post-apocalyptic story

My Summary of Books Read in July - it was a Big Book reading month!

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.   

What are you and your family reading this week?

Books Read in July

July was all about my Big Book Summer Challenge! Here's what I finished reading last month:

• Airborn by Kenneth Oppel - middle-grade/teen fiction on audio
• The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (IL) - adult fiction, a re-read
• Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge - middle-grade fiction

• The Book of M by Peng Shepherd (VA) - adult fiction on audio
• If You Want to Make God Laugh by Bianca Marais (South Africa) - adult fiction

So, I read 5 books in all in July, and all of them were Big Books (i.e. over 400 pages), even my audios! It was an all-fiction month for me, which I always enjoy, with a mix of adult and middle-grade/teen books. Two of the five were listened to on audio. I'm going to cheat and choose TWO favorites because this was my second time reading The Time Traveler's Wife, and it is still in my Top 5 Favorite Books of all time and still made me sob uncontrollably, even though I knew what was coming. Since I already knew that one was a favorite, I also want to give some love to If You Want to Make God Laugh, another wonderful novel from the author of Hum If You Don't Know the Words that I read in record time and loved.

Progress in 2019 Reading Challenges:
This is my favorite part of my monthly summary - updating my Reading Challenges:

Mount TBR Reading Challenge - Just 2 of my 5 books were from my own shelves, low for a Big Book Summer month, but one was brand-new and I'm not counting audios (though the challenge allows you to) because they don't take up physical space! However, I should get extra credit for Fly By Night which sat on my shelf for 11+ years!

Monthly Motif Reading Challenge - July was Through the Years month, to read a book that has something to do with time, so of course The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger was a perfect fit.

Back to the Classics Challenge - No new classics this month - I tried to get through Catch-22 but set it aside about halfway through.

Monthly Keyword Challenge - I didn't read a single book with any of the monthly keywords in the title...again, for the 7th month in a row! Nope, not one all year so far. Clearly this challenge wasn't a good choice for me.

Nonfiction Reading Challenge 2019 - No nonfiction last month.

Diversity Reading Challenge - Two of my books were diverse.

Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge - I added a second book set in South Africa (both by the talented Bianca Marais!).

2018 Literary Escapes Challenge - I added 2 new states: Illinois and Virginia.

2019 Big Book Summer Challenge - I added five more Big Books for a total of 7 so far this summer.

Finally, Bookish Bingo hosted by Chapter Break - not really a challenge per se, but a fun game that I play each month. I filled in 17 squares in July - not bad for 5 books:

Spaces Filled In:

Airborn - in a series, death/murder, audio book

The Time Traveler's Wife - travel - space/time/distance, read a physical book, made into a movie

Fly By Night - spy, thief, shelf love

The Book of M - dual or multiple POV,  free book, not in a series

If You Want to Make God Laugh - BBQ/grilling/cookout, foreign country, pet

All Books! - long - over 400 pages

Free Space

What was your favorite book read in July? 

Fiction Review: The Book of M

When The Book of M by Peng Shepherd was first released last summer, and I heard the post-apocalyptic story being compared to Station Eleven and The Passage (two of my favorites), I was eager to read it. By the end of the year, it had appeared on several Best of 2018 lists and accrued other recognition. This summer, I finally had time to listen to this unique novel on audio, as part of my Big Book Summer Challenge. It lived up to my expectations and kept me captivated.

The novel begins a couple of years after a very odd apocalypse and follows several different characters, also flashing back to the beginnings of the tragedy, when a man in India lost his shadow one bright, sunny day. Soon, he began to lose his memory, as the world looked on, and his condition quickly spread to others. In a short time, this strange phenomena spread all over the world, with millions of people losing their shadows and then, gradually, their memories. Ory and his wife, Max, have survived so far, in a remote hotel in a wooded area near Washington, DC. They had been attending a wedding when the disaster hit their area, so the wedding party and guests and hotel staff holed up in the facility, until one by one, they each succumbed and wandered away (or worse). Ory and Max are the only ones of their friends left at the hotel, but Max lost her shadow recently, so the two of them are watching and waiting for her to start losing memories. Worried that she might become dangerous to Ory, Max leaves, but Ory sets off in search of her. Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, a young woman named Naz who came to the US to train for the Olympic archery team, is terrified and alone as the disaster unfolds around her. Eventually, they each find others and all parties make their way to New Orleans, where strange rumors provide hope.

The novel mostly goes back and forth between narration from Ory and from Naz, with some other narrators, like Max, popping up at certain points. In this way, readers get to see the worldwide tragedy unfold from different perspectives and see its personal costs up close, even from the shadowless, as they struggle to maintain their memories and humanity. Slowly and gradually, the story becomes one of a quest, as the different parties all head to New Orleans in very different ways, while the reader also gets the perspective of the main character there who is the source of the strange rumors. It's intriguing right from the very first page, and the suspense builds, with plenty of action to keep the reader interested. As in any post-apocalyptic story, there is a lot of conflict and violence (fiction writers paint a pretty bleak picture of humankind after a tragedy!). The underlying concept is wholly unique and thought-provoking, though: losing memory as a result of losing shadows. The reasons behind the catastrophe are never found, but it provides plenty of fodder for a fascinating post-apocalyptic tale. Some very strange results of this phenomena occasionally veer into the fantastical. I was riveted by the audio production, which uses a male and female narrator, from beginning to end. This original novel provides plenty of depth and character interplay in the context of a compelling story, with growing tension that kept me rapt.

496 pages, William Morrow Paperbacks
HarperAudio

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Listen to a sample of the excellent audio book, in an excerpt from the beginning of the novel, from Ory's perspective.

You can purchase The Book of M from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

Or you can order The Book of M from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

TV Tuesday: Hanna

Earlier this summer, without much of interest on cable, my husband and I turned to streaming and finally watched Hanna, an Amazon Prime show he'd been bugging me to try. He was right - it was amazing! This unique and suspenseful show was engrossing, and now we can't wait for season two.

In the opening scenes of Hanna, Eric, played by Joel Kinnaman, rescues a baby from some sort of isolated institutional facility in Romania. He tries to escape with a woman (clearly, the baby's mother), but the car is blown up. We next see Eric living in a cave in the woods with a teenage girl named Hanna, played by Esme Creed-Miles. He has brought her up there, in the middle of a deep forest in Romania, and is training her intensely: for strength, agility, self-defense, and even in multiple languages. The two have formed a father-daughter bond. One day, Hanna ignores his frequent warnings and goes further than she's ever been allowed to go before. She meets another person (she's never seen anyone but Eric before), a teen boy working in the lumber industry, helping with his dad's business. Hanna begins to experience normal life for the first time, including her first taste of Snickers(!), but her journey outside their boundaries attracts some unwanted attention. Soon, there are military-types after both she and Eric, and they are each forced to go on the run separately. Eric has drilled her as to what to do in this sort of situation, so Hanna is curiously adept at fleeing through various countries and evading capture, though sweetly naive in just about everything else. A woman named Marissa, played by Mireille Enos, is an ex-CIA agent heading up the forces looking for the two runaways, as she tries to cover up something from her past.

Hanna oddly combines a sci fi-type thriller with a funny coming-of-age story, but it works beautifully. The stories of Hanna's beginnings, why she is unique, and who is after her are revealed gradually throughout the first season. She and Eric, both separately and together, are chased all over Europe (and a bit of Africa, too) by Marissa and her team, as Eric scrambles to make contact with old friends and get some help. Many of the episodes are action-packed and suspenseful (and sometimes quite violent), but there are also sweet and often hilarious scenes of Hanna experiencing the outside world for the first time, making her first friend, and testing out what it feels like to be a normal teen-ager. All of the acting is excellent, and it's wonderful to see Enos and Kinnaman back together on screen (though on opposite sides now) - we loved the duo in The Killing (another great show). But Creed-Miles steals the show as Hanna, giving an intense performance where she is alternatively scary strong and sweetly innocent. In all, it is highly entertaining and wholly addictive. We were hooked after the first episode and can't wait for a second season.

Hanna is an Amazon Prime original, so it is only available on Amazon (note that there was also a movie based on the same basic framework called Hanna from 2011, but the link will take you directly to the new TV show).

It's Monday 8/5! What Are You Reading?

This will be a two-week update today because last Monday I was camping at Rickett's Glen State Park in the lovely, cool Pocono Mountains of PA with friends. It was a much-needed, relaxing getaway for a few days (you can see some photos here). I was not only not online, but we didn't even have basic cell service up there. Just hiking, kayaking, campfires, good food, great company, and - of course - books!

Here's what we've all been reading the past two weeks, with lots of progress in the Big Book Summer Challenge:

I finished reading the newly-released If You Want to Make God Laugh by Bianca Marais in record time. Bianca is a two-time Booktopia author, and I absolutely loved her first novel, Hum If You Don't Know the Words, a contender for my favorite book of the year. As with that first novel, this new one is also set in South Africa, though just after apartheid in this case, in 1994, when Nelson Mandela has just been elected and AIDS is beginning to tear across the country. Three very different women narrate the novel. Seventeen-year-old Zodwa lives in a squatter camp just outside of Johannesburg with her mother and is pregnant. Ruth, a wealthy white middle-aged woman has a breakdown and her husband leaves her. In Zaire, disgraced former nun Delilah gets some horrible news that leads her to leave the orphanage where she works and the children who need her to race back to South Africa. These three stories come together, and for fans of Hum, Beauty and Robin even make cameos here. It was wonderful, and it went by too fast! It counted for my Big Book Summer Challenge.

That was a hard act to follow, so I next picked up another Big Book (from my big pile!), a classic I have wanted to read for years, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. It was first published in 1961 and is a satirical look at war, from the perspectives of a group of men serving overseas. I am just over half-way through this one, but...I'm not loving it. The much-touted humor is a bit too pie-in-the-face style for me; I tend to prefer a subtler, more clever humor. I am also irritated by the way the author characterizes the few women in the novel; they are all there for purely sexual purposes and are very one-dimensional. I understand this is satire, and certainly parts of it are clever, with shades of M*A*S*H, but I am finding it a bit repetitive and tedious. To be honest, I'm not really enjoying it. So, here's my big question - Should I finish reading Catch-22 or give up and move onto something more my style? I am really torn. It's a classic I've wanted to read for ages, but I think I've read enough to get the idea of it. On the other hand, I hate to give up after reading 250+ pages...but I don't really want to invest yet another week in it. What do you think?

On audio, I finished listening to another Big Book: The Book of M by Peng Shepherd, a novel that was released about a year ago that I have wanted to read ever since I heard about it. It's a post-apocalyptic tale about a mysterious condition that quickly spreads across the world. It causes people to lose their shadows, which oddly also causes them to gradually lose their memories. The author uses multiple narrators, all living in this strange post-apocalyptic world (with some flashbacks to how it all happened) and trying to escape its effects. This novel made it onto a bunch of Best of 2018 lists and has been compared to The Passage and Station Eleven, two books I loved. It was an original and gripping story with plenty of suspense and imagination. I enjoyed it very much, though I did get annoyed that the author got some facts about New Orleans wrong!


Now, I have moved onto another Big Book on audio, Vincent and Theo by Deborah Heiligman, a YA novel based on the real-life coming-of-age of Vincent Van Gogh and his beloved younger brother, Theo. This was a freebie from SYNC this summer. I have heard great things about this book, but I am enjoying it even more than I expected to. It's a fascinating biography of Van Gogh, but it is also an in-depth look at his family and his childhood and of the time (Europe in the 1860's-70's). It's so interesting to hear how his artistic talent and career began but also how his mental illness began to show small signs even from childhood. The novel is based on over 600 letters between the brothers and between them and other members of the family.

My husband, Ken, finished his massive third Big Book of the summer, The Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund, which I picked out for him at Northshire Books (recommended by the booksellers there) at Booktopia this year. It's a Swedish thriller about a serial killer. On the cover, it says, "the most disturbing book you'll read this year," and he says that was absolutely true! He says it makes it sound as if most of Sweden's citizens are child abusers; I didn't realize this one dealt with kids or I might have chosen something different, but he stuck with it and says it was suspenseful and intriguing. He was puzzled when the mystery seemed to be solved less than halfway through, but he kept reading and was engrossed right up until the end. All in all, it seemed like a satisfying (though disturbing) read.

After that long, dark book, Ken needed something lighter - and shorter! He picked a thriller with a great sense of humor, August Snow by Stephen Mack Jones. I met Jones at Booktopia this year, and my husband and I both enjoyed his second novel in the series, Lives Laid Away, so I bought book one while I was there. Ken's on a short business trip this week, so this engaging mystery/thriller (and small paperback) was a perfect choice! I'm sure he's enjoying it - and I want to read it next.

 

Our son, Jamie, 24, read the first book in a new-to-him series, An Assassin's Blade trilogy by Justin DePaoli, described as a dark epic fantasy. He says the books are shorter than what he usually reads and not as well-written as his favorites, but he enjoyed it. He had a very busy and exhausting couple of weeks so not a lot of reading time.

Jamie is back home now and diving into a new book, Death's Merchant, book one in the Common Among Gods series by Justan Henner. He says it's a really original story about gods and humans, but not the familiar Greek or Roman gods. I see it's been described as an "epic fantasy" and "1200-page doorstopper full of captivating characters and humor." Yup, that sounds right up his alley! I hope he'll have more reading time this month.


Blog posts from the last two weeks:

Middle-Grade/Teen Review: Airborn by Kenneth Oppel - award-winning adventure & great on audio

Middle-Grade/Teen Review: Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge - intriguing adventure set in a made-up world

Fiction Review: If You Want to Make God Laugh by Bianca Marais - wonderful novel about three women in South Africa in 1994 whose very different lives come together

Saturday Snapshot: Rickett's Glen State Park, PA - beautiful park filled with waterfalls and a lake

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.   

What are you and your family reading this week?

There's still time to sign up for the Big Book Summer Challenge! It's easy-going, like summer - you only have to read one book of 400 or more pages between now and September (though you can, of course, read more!) - a month left to go! It's lots of fun and a great way to add extra enjoyment to your summer! All the details are at the link - you can sign up there if you have a blog or, if not, just leave a comment on that page or sign up at the Goodreads group linked from that page. Join the fun!

Saturday Snapshot: Rickett's Glen State Park, PA

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda at A Web of Stories (same host as always but with a new blog - check it out!).

After a crisis-filled spring and summer and a long and HOT (so far) summer here in Delaware, my husband and I managed a little getaway this week that we had fortunately planned many months ago, before things got crazy. We went camping with some good friends to Rickett's Glen State Park in the Pocono Mountains region of Pennsylvania. The park is at the top of a steep hill...and it was nice and cool up there! Well, maybe not cool but at least tolerable and mostly comfortable. It was a lovely, relaxing getaway with old friends, and the park is beautiful. We were camped on the shore of a lake, went kayaking, and hiked along the highlight of the park: The Glen Falls Trail, with 21 waterfalls along two streams in a V-shape! Our friends did the entire loop, and I was quite happy to manage the first 7 waterfalls (and then back up). Here are some photos from our trip:

The start of the Glen Falls trail - nice and shady!

Oneida Falls

Cayuga Falls

Ganoga Falls - the big one at 94 feet high!

Group selfie in front of Ganoga Falls

Seneca Falls from the top

More up??

View from our campsite (lake out in the brightness)

Kayaking on Lake Jean

Blossoms on lily pads on Lake Jean

My husband & friends paddle around a BIG beaver dam!

Close-up of lily pads

View of sunset from our campsite

Hope you are enjoying a nice weekend and staying cool!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/weekendwanderlust/

Fiction Review: If You Want to Make God Laugh

This spring, I finally had the chance to read Hum If You Don't Know the Words (my review at the link), a debut novel by Bianca Marais, a two-time Booktopia author, and it immediately became one of my favorite novels. While I was at Booktopia in May, I pre-ordered her much-anticipated second novel, If You Want to Make God Laugh, and was thrilled when it arrived last month during my Big Book Summer Challenge. I read it as soon as it landed on my doorstep and loved it, too. This unique novel set in South Africa in the 90's, post-apartheid, features interwoven narratives of three very different women.

Seventeen-year-old Zodwa lives in a squatter camp outside of Johannesburg with her mother. She recently moved from the rural Zulu village where she lived with her grandmother. Now Zodwa is eight months pregnant and guarding a secret that could get her killed. The first election in which blacks can vote is approaching, and AIDS is just beginning to make its way through the citizens of the camp, with its terrifying outcomes.

Across the country in Cape Town, Ruth is a wealthy middle-aged white woman with a scandalous past who has everything, except what she really wants. In the opening scene, she stages an almost-suicide in her beautiful home in an attempt to get her husband's attention. Ruth's breakdown will change everything.

In Zaire, another white woman named Delilah has devoted her life to service and works in an orphanage. She is a disgraced nun, though no one really knows the details of what happened so long ago. An anonymous letter sends her abruptly away from the life she has made and back to South Africa, as she struggles with her personal demons. Both women's lives will change dramatically with the discovery of a newborn baby on their doorstep. A dog named Jezebel rounds out the ragtag collection of women.

I love novels where individual stories slowly come together, and Marais does that beautifully here, gradually weaving together the very different lives of Zodwa, Ruth, and Delilah into a complex whole. As with her first novel, she paints a vivid picture of South Africa at a certain point in time, in this case highlighting the impacts of the end of apartheid, the beginning of Nelson Mandela's leadership, and the devastating AIDS crisis in a very personal way through these remarkable women. As their stories fill out and come together, I came to care about all three of the women, and - bonus for fans of Hum If You Don't Know the Words - Robin and Beauty make cameos in this novel. Marais' writing brings them all to life on the page, as well as the unique world they live in, and I was completely engrossed in this compelling and powerful story from the first page to the last. After two such moving and thoughtful novels, I can't wait to see what she writes next!

432 pages, G.P. Putnam's Sons

The Book Cougars podcast did a wonderful interview with Bianca Marais about her first novel, Hum If You Don't Know the Words. I just listened to it for the second time! But listen to it AFTER you read the novel, as there are some mild spoilers in the interview.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Listen to a sample of the audio book, featuring three different narrators for the three main characters. The sample includes a bit of the first chapter, from Zodwa's perspective.

You can purchase If You Want to Make God Laugh from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

Or you can order If You Want to Make God Laugh from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Middle-Grade/Teen Review: Fly By Night

My third Big Book this summer (for my annual Big Book Summer Challenge) was Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge, a middle-grade/teen novel. Most of my Big Books read each summer come from my own overflowing shelves, but this one takes the prize, having sat on my shelf since its release in 2005! I wanted to read it but just never seemed to get to it. That's what the Big Book Summer Challenge is all about! That gave me the extra motivation to finally read this exciting, action-packed adventure set in an unfamiliar world.

Twelve-year-old Mosca was orphaned when her father died when she was eight years old. Now living with a cruel uncle who keeps her locked up at night, Mosca is eager to escape and see more of the world than her damp hometown of Chough. Mosca lives in a world where books are forbidden:

"Everyone knew that books were dangerous. Read the wrong book, it was said, and the words crawled around your brain on black legs and drove you mad, wicked mad. It did not help that she was the daughter of Quillam Mye, who had come to Chough from Mandelion amid rumors of banishment, bringing city thoughts crackling with cleverness and dozens of dark-bound, dangerous books. Mosca might as well have been the local witch in miniature."

Having been taught to read by her father, Mosca is very smart and eager to learn, but reading and learning are not readily available in her world. When a stranger named Eponymous Clent comes to town and gets locked up in the stockades as a con man, Mosca sees her chance to escape her suffocating town and see the world. She steals the keys and frees Clent, on the condition that he take her - and her beloved goose, Saracen - with him. He grants her the position of his secretary, with the intention of getting rid of her as soon as possible, and the two escape into the dark night. Once they arrive in Mandelion, they encounter political turmoil, evil plots to overthrow the government, secret schools, a hidden printing press, and much more.

I struggled a bit with this book at first simply because of the density of new information, but it grew on me. It is categorized as fantasy, though there is no magic or special powers or fantastical animals. But it does take place in a completely made-up world, with its own unique geography, politics, names, and terminology. Once I adjusted to that and became more familiar with the world, I ended up enjoying the novel very much. It is full of action, suspense, and adventure, as Mosca and Clent first work toward their own goals and later get pulled into the larger conspiracies and intricacies of their world. Most of all, I enjoyed the subtle tongue-in-cheek humor of the story, as evident in the sample paragraph above and the clever names and turns of phrase throughout. This twisty, imaginative adventure story starring such a smart and capable young heroine captured my heart. It looks like the author also wrote a sequel, Fly Trap, which sounds just as enticing.

483 pages, HarperCollins

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

.   

You can purchase Fly By Night from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

Or you can order Fly By Night from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.