Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
Series: Standalone
Published by Tor. 2002
Pages: 306
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased

I loved this book. Stories of your Life and Others contains eight short stories. Each one is original, moving and mind-blowing. Even though Ted Chiang has only written short stories like these, he has won series of science fiction awards with them (several Nebula and Hugo awards for example). The movie Arrival is based one one of these short stories.
Seeing Arrival before reading this book made me curious. Could the book possibly be as good as the movie? Yes, it absolutely was.

So why did I love this book so much? Continue reading “Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang”

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. SchwabA Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab Book Cover
Series:
Shades of Magic #1
Published by Titan Books on February 27th 2015
Pages: 400
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased

Kell is Antari, one of the last of his kind, living among humans who possess a lot of magic, a little, or none at all. He lives in a city where magic thrives. A smell of rose perfume engulfs the air, where the red glowing river flows throughout. The place Kell calls ‘Red London’, because there is more than one London. In fact, there are four, living side by side in a different universe, where only some know of their existence. Red, the color of magic so pure and balanced. Grey, a bland color, where no magic is left. White, the color of a place that smells like ash, slowly falling. Black, the color of destruction, succumbed to its own power.

Continue reading “A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab”

The Girl with all the Gifts by M.R. Carey

The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R. Carey Book CoverThe Girl with all the Gifts by M.R. Carey
Series: Standalone
Genre: Sci-fi, Horror
Published by Orbit on January 14th 2014
Pages: 460
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased

“You can’t save people from the world. There’s nowhere else to take them.”

This story takes place in a dystopian, zombie-containing future but it is mostly about Melanie. She is a very smart girl but one that is just as naive, if not more than most children. But who can blame her? Her days are either spent in her room-like prison or in a prison-like classroom. She doesn’t know it herself but she is, of course, one of the zombies.  Continue reading “The Girl with all the Gifts by M.R. Carey”