by Barbara the Bibliophage | Dec 2, 2022 | RELAX: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Dawn, the first in Lilith’s Brood or Xenogenesis trilogy, is excellent Afrofuturism. It’s also Octavia Butler at her best. Although published in 1979, Butler envisions a future for the Earth that’s not just possible but probable. And amid the futuristic story, she...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Jul 3, 2022 | RELAX: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Octavia Butler creates a fantastical story in Wild Seed, the first book of her Patternist series. The main characters are two immortals, living in Africa and America during the years leading up to the Civil War. Doro is a body-snatching, shape shifter who believes he...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Aug 1, 2018 | RELAX: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Parable of the Talents cements Octavia Butler as one of my favorite speculative fiction authors. The second and final in the Earthseed books, Talents offers a disturbing view of the near future. At the end of Book #1, Parable of the Sower, Lauren Olamina, her husband...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Jul 1, 2018 | RELAX: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
I have a love / hate relationship with The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. I love the book and hate how much I think her speculative fiction feels like our 21st century reality. Butler creates a world, set in our near future 2025, where anarchy reigns. I also...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Apr 22, 2023 | RELAX: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Justin Cronin delivers a compelling and fantastic book with his new release, The Ferryman. He seamlessly blends psychology, action, character study, and dystopian elements. Plus, the twists kept coming during the entire second half. If that’s not enough, I can’t wait...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Jul 2, 2022 | RELAX: Mystery-Thriller
Upgrade is Blake Crouch’s latest thriller and it focuses on using genetics for good or evil. Main character Logan Ramsay experiences both in the course of the story. As the son of a famous geneticist, he was a tangential part of an apocalyptic genetic failure. As a...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Feb 21, 2022 | RELAX: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Scorpica is everything I want in epic fantasy—world-building that still makes characters the focus of the story. G.R. Macallister creates entrancing characters in places I’ll never forget. She’s billed this as book one of a new series—The Five Queendoms—and I’m...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Jan 25, 2022 | RELAX: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Emily St. John Mandel wrote Station Eleven in the early 2010s and published it in 2014. So this is technically a backlist choice. However, with the pandemic-related storyline and the recent HBO adaptation, Station Eleven is more relevant than ever. I’ll review both...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Jul 4, 2020 | RELAX: Historical Fiction
Reviewing Jubilee by Margaret Walker, a classic piece of historical fiction, is a daunting thing. Walker crafts a story, “inspired by the memories of her maternal grandmother, Elvira Ware Dozier.” (see source below) The main character is Vyry, a woman born on a...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Jun 13, 2020 | RELAX: Mystery-Thriller
In Lakewood, the debut novel from Megan Giddings, Lena Johnson is just trying to hold it all together for her family. And that family recently lost its most senior member, her grandmother. That leaves Lena with her ailing mom to care for, as their mountain of debt...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Feb 15, 2020 | RELAX: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Samantha Shannon creates an alternate London in the not-too-distant future in her debut fantasy novel, The Bone Season. In this London, the ruling organization is called Scion, in fact London itself is referred to as SciLo. And there are many types of clairvoyant...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Apr 4, 2018 | RELAX: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Frank Herbert’s Dune is a classic epic fantasy that my darling husband calls one of his favorites. Never mind that he was a teenager when he read it. So when I saw a clean copy on the shelf of a used bookstore, I grabbed it up. I like epic fantasy, so why not? Then I...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Oct 24, 2017 | RESIST: Social Justice
During 2017 I made a specific effort to broaden my reading experience, with emphasis on balancing my white, middle-class education and upbringing. I’ve tried to choose classics written by African Americans, historical works, as well as books that discuss the...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Aug 14, 2017 | MISCELLANEOUS
Another 2017 reading challenge is done! The folks at Book Riot came up with the Read Harder challenge, and I have to say it’s expanded my horizons considerably. 2016 was the first time I’ve completed it, and now my 2017 challenge is also in the books (pun...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Jan 5, 2019 | MISCELLANEOUS
I’ve decided that 2018 was my “Year of the Woman.” Themes of feminism and other various related women’s issues threaded their way through many of my choices. Plus, I read a plethora of amazing work from women authors. I love when the unintentional becomes...
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