Book Review: The Tsarina's Daughter by Carolly Erickson

 

Goodreads Summary: From the bestselling author of The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette comes a dramatic novel and powerful love story about the last Russian imperial family.It is 1989 and Daria Gradov is an elderly grandmother living in the rural West. What neighbors and even her children don't know, however, is that she is not who she claims to be—the widow of a Russian immigrant of modest means. In actuality she began her life as the Grand Duchess Tatiana, known as Tania to her parents, Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra. And so begins the latest entrancing historical entertainment by Carolly Erickson. At its center is young Tania, who lives a life of incomparable luxury in pre-Revolutionary Russia, from the magnificence of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to the family's private enclave outside the capital. Tania is one of four daughters, and the birth of her younger brother Alexei is both a blessing and a curse. When he is diagnosed with hemophilia and the key to his survival lies in the mysterious power of the illiterate monk Rasputin, it is merely an omen of much worse things to come. Soon war breaks out and revolution sweeps the family from power and into claustrophobic imprisonment in Siberia. Into Tania's world comes a young soldier whose life she helps to save and who becomes her partner in daring plans to rescue the imperial family from certain death.

Goodreads Ratings: 3.38 stars with over 2,500ratings

Genre Listing: Historical Fiction, Romance, Alternate History, Speculative Fiction

Goodreads Challenge: 2/60

2024 Reading Challenge: #44 Read a book that takes place in a cold climate (Find the entire challenge here)

Book Review: 

Hello, Readers! I hope everyone is doing well. I actually finished The Tsarina's Daughter a few days ago, but have been fighting a cold. This will be a fairly short review. I actually debated not doing a review for this book, but I am trying to post more. 

I picked The Tsarina's Daughter by Carolly Erickson a while ago, but for whatever reason didn't finish it. The book reimagines the life of the Romanov family before their assassinations. In The Tsarina's Daughter, their second oldest daughter, Tatiana survives and assumes a new identity. This probably sounds a little familiar, but about a different Romanov daughter.

Overall I enjoyed the book, but I don't have much to say about it. The Tsarina's Daughter is a perfectly acceptable novel. I didn't love it or hate it. It's under 350 pages, and the way Tania survives is plausible. It's just kind of one note and I feel completely neutral about it.

Book Review: Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer

 

Goodreads Summary: Hominids is a strong, stand-alone SF novel, but it's also the first book of The Neanderthal Parallax, a trilogy examining two unique species of people. They are alien to each other yet bound together by the never-ending quest for knowledge and, beneath their differences, common humanity. We are one of those species; the other is the Neanderthals of a parallel world where they, not Homo sapiens, became the dominant intelligence. In that world, the Neanderthal civilization has reached heights of culture and science comparable to ours but is very different in history, society, and philosophy.
During a risky experiment deep in a mine in Canada, Ponter Boddit, a Neanderthal physicist, accidentally pierces the barrier between worlds and is transferred to our universe, where in the same mine, another experiment is taking place. Hurt but alive, he is almost immediately recognized as a Neanderthal, but only much later as a scientist. He is captured and studied, alone and bewildered, a stranger in a strange land. But Ponter is also befriended by a doctor and a physicist who share his questing intelligence and boundless enthusiasm for the world's strangeness, and especially by geneticist Mary Vaughan, a lonely woman with whom he develops a special rapport.

Meanwhile, Ponter's partner, Adikor Huld, finds himself with a messy lab, a missing body, suspicious people all around, and an explosive murder trial that he can't possibly win because he has no idea what actually happened. Talk about a scientific challenge!
Goodreads Ratings: 3.79 stars with over 17,000 ratings

Genre Listing: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Alternate Universe, Alternate History

Goodreads Challenge: 19/36

2022 Reading Challenge: #14 Read a Speculative Fiction (See the entire challenge here)

Book Review:

Hello, Readers, and Happy August! I am thrilled that Fall is approaching soon. It's absolutely gorgeous in Minnesota when the leaves turn. I wish it'd stick around longer since it's my favorite season.

There's not much real-world stuff to catch up on since I did a Birthday post last week, so I'll jump right into Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer.

This is not a book I would have picked for myself in a million years. This story got on my radar because, in the Spring, my husband's aunt and uncle visited briefly. I had recommended Humans by Matt Haig and, in return, was sent Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer. I won't lie; I was slightly nervous to read it. I was afraid that the science discussed in the book would be way over my head. I was pleasantly surprised, however.

Hominids was really easy to get into. The characters were interesting, as was the story. The science discussed was really approachable. There was an explanation for anything that was pretty complex, which was appreciated. There was even some further explanation regarding how Neanderthals in the book calculated things.  

I liked how the story went back and forth between the two worlds. It gave an interesting comparison and explained the sociological differences between the two worlds. Sawyer really took care in thinking about how to have Ponter learn the language and how the Neanderthal society would work, including how their legal trials functioned. Both parts of the story were intriguing, but I think I liked the Neanderthal side more just for the logical approach everything had.

Trigger warning - there is a rape scene in the book. I don't really feel like it was a necessary scene to move the story forward; however, I do appreciate that it shows the victim coping with it, including seeking a support group. It also briefly discusses how the situation is handled in today's world compared to the Neanderthal's world. So I guess in that aspect, it did serve a purpose. 

Overall, I really enjoyed Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer. The parallel universe with the inclusion of Neanderthals was really interesting, and the characters were likable. This may be a good fit if you are looking for an easy-to-read Science Fiction or Alternate History.  

Book Review: Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

 

Goodreads Summary: The Nebula Award-winning author of Kindred presents a “gripping” dystopian novel about a woman fleeing Los Angeles as America spirals into chaos (The New York Times Book Review).

“A stunner.” —Flea, musician and actor, The Wall Street Journal

Lauren Olamina and her family live in one of the only safe neighborhoods remaining on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Behind the walls of their defended enclave, Lauren’s father, a preacher, and a handful of other citizens try to salvage what remains of a culture that has been destroyed by drugs, disease, war, and chronic water shortages. While her father tries to lead people on the righteous path, Lauren struggles with hyperempathy, a condition that makes her extraordinarily sensitive to the pain of others.

When fire destroys their compound, Lauren’s family is killed, and she is forced out into a world that is fraught with danger. With a handful of other refugees, Lauren must make her way north to safety, along the way conceiving a revolutionary idea that may mean salvation for all mankind.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Octavia E. Butler, including rare images from the author’s estate.

Goodreads Ratings: 4.17 stars with over 85,000 ratings

Genre Listing: Fiction, Dystopia, Science Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Speculative Fiction

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 20/50 (Heyyyy, I'm finally caught up!)

2021 Reading Challenge: #47 Read a book with 

Book Review: 

Happy whatever day it is, Readers. I've completely lost any clue as to what day it is this week. I took Friday off and had Monday off for Memorial Day. Now I feel like I'm Robin Williams in the original Jumanji asking what year is it. 

Anyway, I picked up Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler sometime late Friday early Saturday Morning. It's a bit of a unique pick for me because of the religious undertones, but ultimately I had been eyeing it for a few weeks on Kindle Unlimited. I liked the concept, and the cover art really drew me in. 

The book follows Lauren Olmania, a teenager trying to survive a harsh world with her family after the world goes to hell. The build to the world being absolutely insane is a slow build, and it's not overly apparent until a few chapters into the story. Once the reader gets to know Lauren a bit, it's explained that communities are walled off, water is as good as gold, and that outside the walls is complete anarchy. I don't think it's genuinely understood how desperate the outside world is until Lauren's brother Kieth runs away from home. 

Keith leaving home is the start of a lot of unfortunate events for Lauren and her community. This ultimately pushes Lauren outside of the wall as well. That's when we really start to understand the world she lives in. Arson, rape, robbery, murder, and cannibalism are just another day for the characters. What I never really understood was what caused the world to be that way. The book starts in 2024, but beyond a brief statement or two about Climate Change, it's really never explained why Lauren's world is post-apocalyptic.

I enjoyed the survival aspect of this story. Lauren, despite her age, is brilliant. She often came across as older than because of her intelligence. This is actually addressed in the story due to her stepmother and father being teachers and teaching her. She graduated high school relatively young and then went into college classes. She also helped her stepmother teach the community's children. I thought Lauren was resourceful and came across as a leader. Her hyperempathy was interesting, but I don't know that it was essential to the story. If it had not been included, it wouldn't really have taken away from the story all that much. 

Where the story started losing me was the whole Earthseed thing. This is a concept that Lauren starts to explain her views on God. She starts journaling everything, and the story is presented in journal form. Some of the ideas she expresses are interesting, but they began to veer a little too close to Heaven's Gate for my liking. (For those playing the at-home game, Heaven's Gate was a cult that committed group suicide so they would board a UFO and transcend into immortal beings.) So, the whole purpose of Earthseed is that God isn't a person. God is change (Okay, I can actually understand this.) However, after an astronaut died on their way to Mars, Lauren has decided that Earthseed's destiny lies among the stars and that they need to gather follows and make a living in Space. In the story, Oregon, Washington, and Canada seem to be the promised land for Californians trying to escape. So as Lauren tries to travel to safety, it becomes her pilgrimage to acquire followers for Earthsed. Along the way, plans are made for the community they are going to develop.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler addresses many deep topics, and I genuinely feel that it was ahead of its time when it was initially published in 1993. It's won a ton of awards since then, and I can understand why. As a survival story, Octavia found a way to address racism, climate change, rape, and even includes modern slavery. These aren't even all of the diverse topics it manages to discuss in its 330 pages. A lot of it was tough to read, which I think is the point. While reading it, I kept thinking, "Hell. This is only three years away and feels completely plausible." So for Octavia E. Butler to have this foresight thirty years ago (cries in getting old) is remarkable. 

Overall, I enjoyed the story. I liked Lauren as the main character. I appreciated her intelligence, her resilience, resourcefulness, and the leadership she provided her group. The speculative future was eerie but still exciting to read. What kept this from being a four or five star for me was the cult-esq religion and the fact that barely eighteen-year-old ends up falling for a fifty-seven-year-old. Sorry. I try to be open-minded about things, but this was just a little cringy to me. The story does manage to address both, however. At one point, Lauren is asked if her religion is a cult, and she and her guy do have a discussion about the age difference. (Sorry, I can't remember his name.) I don't know if I'll end up finishing the series. I'm not ruling it out, but it's not anything I feel that I have to read right away.

Book Review: A Gleam of Light by T.J. & M.L. Wolf

Goodreads Summary: In 1995, at the age of eight, Una Waters survived a terrifying encounter at 30,000 feet aboard Flight 564 from Dallas to Las Vegas. It changed her forever. After 21 years, and a decade away from the Hopi Reservation where she grew up as a child, a surprise plea for help brings Una back, to solve a mystery that threatens their traditional way of life. The U.S. Army's sudden interest regarding a cave discovery in the Sacred Peaks has triggered alarm, leading to violence. With the help of friends, new and old, Una must confront her painful past, seek proof to qualify the ancient site for protection under law, and stand up to a stiff-necked general, whose agenda is more concerned with retrieving a mysterious power source.
Goodreads Rating: 3.11 stars with 9 ratings
Genre Listing: Speculative Fiction, Aliens, Native American Culture

Review:

First of all, I received a copy of this book from the authors in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to T.J. & M.L. Wolf for sending me a copy of your book.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. I like the concept of the speculative history surrounding a plane flight and an alien encounter. I feel like A Gleam of Light put way too many ideas in one book. There was just so many themes in this book ranging from aliens, Native American Culture, Military, and archeology. It just didn't feel cohesive story to me. I liked some of the aspects separately but being all mixed together made it difficult to stay interested in.

I didn't really feel any connection to any of the characters. They all felt fairly flat and one-dimensional to me. I didn't really feel like any of them had any personality, and from one character's point of view to the next, it was hard to decipher whose train of thought I was following.  There were a lot of parts in the book, especially in the beginning of the story, where it felt like the scene just stopped abruptly to add this sense of suspense. It really didn't make it any more suspenseful in my mind.

The military aspect of this story just seemed incredibly off to me. I've been around a lot of military people (tends to happen when your husband is a marine) in my life, and it just didn't feel believable to me. Especially where it talks about information being classified but then offering Una a tour and telling her information. She may have been able to get in with her government job, but it seems unlikely that her friends would have been able to be allowed in, and that's only if she had a security clearance. I don't know if the authors have previously had military experience, but based on how the scenes were written, I'm going to assume they did not. 

That being said, the aspects of the Hopi culture did feel a bit more believable to me, and I got the impression that there was a lot of research or first-hand knowledge that went into the writing of the Hopi's Culture in this story. I also liked the archaeology portion of the story. That felt realistic enough to me as well. And I enjoyed reading about their adventures in the cave.

Some of the wording in this book really irked me. I physically cringed when I read that the authors put in the quote "They laugh at me because I'm different. I laugh at them because they are all the same." I've seen this statement on many things, and I can't help but including it might be grounds for plagiarism if someone really wanted to push it. Even if it's not, it's a very cliche line that has been completely overdone for years. Towards the end of the story, Una meets up with her friends, and they hug. Una starts crying because her friend starts crying and refers to it as being "A woman thing." This was another thing that made me cringe because it's a generalization that really doesn't apply to most or even all women.

Additionally, Una and Ashcroft having feelings for one another is just odd to me. It feels like it came out of nowhere and had no build up to it. There was one scene where they got close, and apparently, it was enough to make Una trust him implicitly and have feelings for it. Again, this doesn't feel realistic to me.

Personally, I did not enjoy the book. I can see how some would enjoy it, but for me, it would need a serious rewrite. I didn't feel like the weird plane flight experience correlated with the things that were going on around the reservation. I didn't really feel like there was a meaning behind bringing the characters from flight to the cave. I didn't get a sense of personality from any of the characters, and the majority of the themes just didn't come across as realistic. Even in speculation, there are ways to make it seem believable. I honestly haven't read any other books this month because I knew I needed to finish this one but just couldn't bring myself to want to pick it up beyond a sense of obligation.