Aria's Hollow

Crown of Thunder, written by Tochi Onyebuchi, is the sequel to the book Beasts Made of Night, which I read quite a while ago. Long enough ago that, hopping back in, some of the details were definitely fuzzy, and even though the important ones came back I'm sure my experience with the book was in some way influenced by the gap of time between my reading it and the first one.

Generally speaking, it was a pretty fun read. It had a very immersive, quick writing style that made it easy to feel invested in. The world building was a strength in the first book, and this one also continues to have interesting lore and fantastical elements. The characters were mostly likeable, though our protagonist Taj had moments where I kinda thought he was lame and annoying lol. He had moments when I liked him too though! I don't recall perfectly but that's probably how I felt about him in book 1 as well. I thought most of the other characters were pretty neat, so I didn't mind spending time with them, even if none of them quite reached any kind of 'fave' territory.

One thing I thought was interesting about this book and series is that it is part action story. There were quite a lot of fight scenes, and they were fairly detailed, and on one hand I found them fun (because I mean, I like action), but despite them being written in entirely easy to follow terms I still occasionally got confused in my mental image of what was happening. Not in any significant way, but still. Aside from those moments though I thought the frequent action was pretty entertaining. In particular I quite liked the scenes where magic was used, and that magic in this world is done through algebraic proofs. It made Aliya, our resident mage/math nerd, a fun character and a nice twist on the spell caster archetype (which is usually mostly or all spiritual).

We got to learn more about Arzu in this book too, seeing the land of her heritage and meeting her childhood best friend/crush, Juba, and I thought those two were nice together. Not that...they actually got to stay together due to the rules of their tribe (it wasn't because they were both girls, but because of the different roles they fulfilled in their society), which was a bit of a bummer especially since Taj and Aliya got to be together which was whatever I guess. Not bad, but I wasn't all that invested in it. Actually getting to have some of the book from Arzu's perspective would have been very cool, but alas.

There were a few themes in the book that I thought were a bit neglected, and some I just wasn't entirely sure if I fully agreed with or not, but nothing drastic enough to make me feel any anger at the book or anything like that. For example, it was brought up that even though aki were forced to eat the removed sins from rich people, that didn't actually say anything about if the person the sin came from felt less guilty as a result. I thought it was a good point and an interesting nuance to the way things worked, but it didn't really come up all that much later. The closest we got was the whole 'forgiving a person's sins is what brings Balance' thing which...on paper is nice, and it allowed for some pretty cool magic, but I thought it also started to get a little...preachy? In certain moments. Especially since the only group that was against this was a bunch of irritating, violent hooligans than I hated (it was so baffling to me how Taj ever thought there was anything appealing to their way of life, if anything it just made me think Taj must have been a lot more annoying in the first book than I remembered).

I did like at the end at least Taj didn't have to forgive the evil queen who had hunted him and slaughtered his city and friends, and someone else was able to eat the sins and remove the threat, but that whole thing was also a bit underdeveloped. Unless I just forgot details from book 2, Queen Karima was totally under-developed and mostly just detestable, and it isn't actually said what...happens to her in the end? She was there, did they arrest her? Kill her? Did they have any kind of plan for a new government once the monarchy was overthrown? I'm not sure if there's supposed to be a third book or not, if there is then not explaining everything in book 2 is fine, but if not then I stand by my feeling that the book's ending was good, but incomplete feeling.

I gave the book 3/5 stars on Goodreads, and I think that's a fair portrayal of my feelings for the book. It was fun to read, and had some definite strengths, but there were a few weaknesses and never fully grabbed my full excitement, even if I did find it immersive. It was a worthwhile read though, and if a third book did come out, I would want to read it and see what happened next.

Originally, I hadn't had a great deal of interest in the story of Frankenstein due to the pop culture image of the story (as it was all I was really familiar with at first). But after hearing that the book was actually quite different from that, and especially after reading and loving The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (another story I wasn't interested in until some other source gave me some idea of what the story was originally like), I decided I wanted it to be my next dive into 'Gothic' Victorian classics. And I was not disappointed! I ended up enjoying the book immensely, and both Frankenstein and the Creature were far more entertaining as characters than I would have initially anticipated. 

The writing style was an entertaining one to read, very eloquent and, as was common for the era, very interested in the minute details of a character's feelings or of the scenery they observed. The 'little details' got far more attention than they would now a days. Admittedly, the one drawback to this was that the Travel Chapters very much assumed you were familiar with all the local places of Europe, which as an American who has done little travel, I was not, making them far less interesting to me then they could have been. I did enjoy how much they described the feelings these places evoked in the characters though, since that allowed the reader to feel more connected to the characters, or at least as they understood their mindset very well. 

I did not expect Victor to be such an incredible drama queen though xD. I did rather enjoy it, but also I shook my head at his incredibly low constitution (few protagonists now a days would be written going into delirious, feverish shock at every great misfortune like our Frankenstein did lol). Though more than that, I of course shook my head at his obstinance in hating the Creature even though... it should have been tremendously obvious the Creature was going to stay around and eventually take on some kind of instinct, and they were Frankenstein's responsibility in the first place. In general, Victor had very poor common sense and typically just Hoped His Problems Would Go Away rather than taking direct action. If he was thinking straight, it would have been very obvious the Creature meant to kill those dear to him, and not take him on in mortal combat, but he didn't seem to figure that out on his own either. I did rather like him as a narrator though, he had his charm. And the Creature was of course a fascinating and tragic character, he was really just Tall and slightly ugly/unsettling in appearance but everyone tried to kill him on sight, and Frankenstein loathed him from the beginning, even though he was a rather kind fellow originally. By the end, of course, his morals have gone out the window in favor of fury and vengeance, and Victor ends up nearly the same, leading them both to their icy demise (or, fiery in the Creature's case if they kept their word).

All in all it was a very enjoyable, dark tale, and aside from a few quibbles I didn't really have any complaints. I can see how the book could lead to a lot of literary analysis, and a lot of different interpretations of what the 'message' is. I'll definitely be looking into other stories of a similar style in the future.

**This is an old review I am cataloging and may not reflect my Current thoughts on the matter**

I finally got a hold of a few Next Generation books, so I’m going to start making review posts about each one I finish. I’ve read three so far, but the first one I read was Q-Space by Greg Cox, so that’s the one I’m going to rant about this time.

First off I’ll start with saying that this is the first book in a trilogy, and you can really tell. It spends a ton of time on build-up, answers none of the many questions it raises, and then ends on a cliff hanger. I haven’t read the next two books yet and therefore can’t say much about the story as a whole or how well this book leads into the next, so I’m going to be reviewing it purely on an individual basis and how well of a beginning to a story it is, since that clearly seems to be what it was written to be.

***~SPOILER WARNING FROM HERE ON OUT. THIS IS A DETAILED REVIEW AND WILL SPOIL THE WHOLE BOOK IF YOU HAVEN’T READ IT YET.~***

So the story begins with the Enterprise going to see if they can finally make to the other side of the Galactic Barrier that has prevented any exploration outside of their galaxy with the help of a sickly scientist named Lem Faal who is obsessed with his work to the point that he completely neglects his two young children who are also on board the Enterprise with him. This guy really feels like a one-shot you might actually see in the show; he’s unlikable and arrogant but also somewhat sympathetic due to the fact he might die before seeing his life’s work complete.

At this point in the story, I was already having fun reading simply because the dialogue felt very in-character and more often then not I could actually imagine the actors of the show saying those lines. The book switches perspective often and between chapters will have short ‘Interludes’ that focus on characters and scenes that while not always pivotal to the plot do add an extra layer of depth and understanding to the characters and events that are happening. Actually, some of the Interludes are pivotal to the plot as they focus on this mysterious, insane entity that starts identifying itself metaphorically as a spider, that seems to live directly outside the Galactic Barrier. That part of the story I found very interesting, but it’s never really resolved because none of the characters come in contact with the Spider Entity during the entire book; I’m assuming the later books will explain that.

Anyways, now to the part that pretty much anyone who picked up the book was waiting for; STUFF WITH Q. Q SHOWS UP AGAIN. YAY. Okay, seriously speaking, it was a lot of fun to see Q again, he was well written and zany as ever. Basically he shows up to convince Picard that they definitely absolutely should totally not go past the Galactic Barrier. Because this is apparently a Very Bad Idea. That’s the only reason he gives, but it’s implied he knows the Spider Entity (or rather that the Spider Entity knows him and doesn’t like him). Also, Q apparently married another Q and had a baby called little q. This part I’m not entirely sure how I feel about. On one hand, it did lead to some funny scenes and conversations, but there’s something about that turn of events that just makes me feel uncomfortable. Maybe it’s just because I can’t imagine Q in any form of long-term relationship, let alone raising a baby Q, maybe it’s just because I’m used to thinking of him as a loner since he always appears without other Q’s in every episode he’s in. Either way, the whole thing feels weird and doesn’t seem to be serving the plot in any noticeable way, which, again, could change in the next two books, but right now, while I don’t exactly dislike the idea or Q’s new wife, it does feel a bit…off…like I can’t really imagine it happening in the show.

Also, the Calamarain, those glowy aliens from Deja-Q that hate Q are back and also seem to be stopping the Enterprise from reaching the Galactic Barrier. So the Enterprise is stuck in a giant glow-cloud of death. And then Q loses his patience and kidnaps Picard. Because Q. Q starts showing Picard his past, in which we learn that Q was always alone and getting into trouble with the Continuum and released this old alien dude from another dimension, which was a bad thing, but it hasn’t been explained yet as to why (I’m guessing the old dude is Spider Entity, but I actually have no idea). So the book ends roughly with Riker trying to figure out how to get the ship out of the Calamarain alive, and Picard is fed up with Q but also learning stuff (both of which are great fun to read).

Honestly, I had a lot of fun reading this book. It was well written and entertaining and mostly in character. I still don’t know what’s up with Mrs. Q and little q, but I am intrigued by the story. I can’t say how well the pacing is yet since it really feels like the first part of a story rather its own individual story, but I thought it moved along quite nicely. It was both humorous and exciting, as any story involving Q should be, and it did make me want to read the next book. So while it wasn’t a perfect book and I won’t have a full opinion on the story until I read the other two, I did enjoy and would rate it at least 7.5 out of 10.