Dead Country by Max Gladstone

Not sure if this is dystopian or alternate reality story, but it is a mix of modern thought and thoroughly mad max agrarianism.   The Craft, aka magic, is Tara’s life.   She is a big time crafter in the big city but goes home to rural Edgemont for her father’s funeral.  

Along the way, Tara picks up a pupil who has been abused.   Dawn, the pupil, is hungry for knowledge.  She wants knowledge to keep from ever being frightened again.  

Gladstone depicts a flawed Tara, flawed by the methods and people who taught her the Craft.   She has battled to be herself and to protect her world.  She goes home to discover that she must battle prejudice and fear in her hometown.

This is a good start on the Craft War Trilogy.   I recommend the book.

 

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State Slave by D.G. Voda

I saw this book as a critical commentary on our capitalistic society. In a dystopian future, a socialistic dictatorship rules humanity with a machine-based foe.

The state slave depiction is a scathing portrayal of the lethal potential of a welfare society. 

Political commentary aside, there was action, betrayal, despair, and awakening.

Overall it was a heavy-handed satire that I enjoyed.  

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned

The Drift by C.J. Tudor

  

The story is about a lethal disease that impacts the world.  Pandemic-focused it follows a mixed and unknowingly connected cast of characters. It jumped from character group to character group as well as jumping back and forth between decades.   The story has merit the style left me cold and confused.

Flawed characters abounded throughout the book.  Philosophically “good” guys finished not only last but dead.   Surviving was all about narcissism. 

This is a very dark look at the future. 

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned

Spotlight on Minalima Edition of Snow White and Other Grimms' Fairy Tales

 SNOW WHITE AND OTHER GRIMMS’ FAIRY TALES

MINALIMA EDITION

By Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

Harper Design · on sale November 8, 2022

The ninth book in Harper Design’s deluxe classic illustrated series—a beautiful and inventive fresh take on the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales, including “Snow White,” with stunning full-color artwork and interactive features created by MinaLima, the award-winning design studio behind the graphics for the Harry Potter film franchise.

SNOW WHITE AND OTHER GRIMMS’ FAIRY TALES (MinaLima Edition) (Harper Design; 9780063208247; November 8, 2022) includes twenty-three of the most popular tales penned by German brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, taken from their original collection Children’s and Household Tales, first published in 1812.

Here are beloved characters, including Snowdrop (Snow White), Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty), Ashputtel (Cinderella), Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Rumpelstiltskin, The Elves and The Shoemaker, all reimagined by the brilliant award-winning designers at MinaLima. This deluxe edition is illustrated with specially commissioned artwork and includes nine extraordinary interactive features ranging from a pop-up forest and pull-tab mirror for Snow White and a wall of thorns encasing Sleeping Beauty to a three-dimensional ball gown for Cinderella and a pop-up tower for Rapunzel.

MINALIMA is an award-winning graphic design studio founded by Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima, renowned for establishing the graphic style of the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts film series. Specializing in design and illustration, Miraphora and Eduardo have continued their involvement in the Wizarding World through numerous design commissions, from creating all the graphics for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter—Diagon Alley at Universal Orlando Resort to designing award-winning publications.. Studio MinaLima is renowned internationally for telling stories through design and has created its own MinaLima Classics series, reimagining a growing collection of much-loved tales including Peter Pan, The Secret Garden, The Adventures of Pinocchio, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

 

"No collection of children's classic stories would be complete without the inclusion of the tales by the Brothers Grimm so it was natural that our latest challenge would be reimagining Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, Rumpelstiltskin and many more characters and their chronicles – all collected in one complete, colourful compendium." 

Miraphora Mina, co-founder of Studio MinaLima

"This is our ninth title in the MinaLima Classics series and as this is an anthology of multiple stories rather than a singular piece, we sought to compile a feast of vivid visual treatments that work beautifully together. As with all our books, this, too, was crafted with readers of all ages in mind and has interactive elements throughout to make them actively participate in these much-loved tales."

Eduardo Lima, co-founder of Studio MinaLima

Alien Agendas : Solar Warden Book 3 by Ian Douglas

This is an exceptionally good series with a VERY diverse cast of characters and plot lines.  Interstellar travel blended with time travel, vengeful dinosaurs and demented Nazis plus Amazonian beauties as grandchildren.

Hunter as the former Seal and Elana, the telepathic knockout continue in their main roles.   The Space Force is maturing along with its equipment and personnel.   The author does a great job incorporating some of the more ludicrous aspects of today’s society.   Fake new, memes, conspiracy theories seem dreadfully appropriate the night before the mid-term election.  It seems more believable that all this rampant stupidity is imposed by an inimical outside force than ordinary people ignoring common sense and suddenly hating their neighbors.  If only it were so…

Perhaps Douglas has an inside track.

I enjoyed the book and recommend it. 

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned