Reviews – Page 8 – Books Dani Likes

Qualityland by Marc-Uwe Kling

Greetings Kittens! I wanted to challenge myself this year after falling short of my reading goals in 2019. I wanted to try to read from genres that I often overlook, while also giving myself permission to do a little more guilty-pleasure reading from my favorite genre: mystery. While Qualityland is not the first book that I read this year, it is the first book that meets challenge #1: read from overlooked genres. The entire book is a satire, and while it is written by a German author, it is very clearly satirizing American culture and politics. I would have been more offended, but the book is clever and funny and hits pretty close to the truth. It’s not going to be everyone’s favorite read, but I can see this gaining some cult classic status pretty quick, especially since HBO has reportedly picked up the rights for an adaptation. Welcome to Qualityland, my dear readers.

Title: Qualityland

Author: Marc-Uwe Kling

Author website: https://marcuwekling.de/en/

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Publish date: January 7, 2020 (originally published in Germany in 2017)

ISBN: 9781538732960

Buy the Book: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

The tagline for the cover of Qualityland is: “The Biggest Company. The Perfect Algorithm. What could possibly go wrong?” I think most readers can guess the answer to that question, but nonetheless, let’s meet our cast of characters. The story is mostly the narrative of a man named Peter Jobless (in this new world order, your surname is chosen based on the career of your gender equivalent parent at the time of your conception). Peter Jobless runs a machine crushing business that is mostly unsuccessful. In Qualityland, their machines are the best!

In this dystopian future, people do not need to go online and click through purchase decisions on their computers, instead they have devices embedded into their brains through their ear canals (appropriately called earworms) that communicate directly with the various technological aspects of their society and e-commerce. The user doesn’t need to physically order an item from TheShop (the largest internet retailer), because once the user thinks about wanting the item, provided there is enough currency in their account, the item is delivered by flying drone almost instantly to their door. All of this is an accepted part of Peter’s daily routine, up until the day that he receives an item from TheShop that he didn’t think about and doesn’t want. His efforts to return this item with the help of his sort-of girlfriend Kiki, a wise but paranoid old man, and his band of machines-that-he-was-supposed-to-destroy-but-didn’t drive the novel forward with farcical consequences.

There are so many clever allusions in this plot that it’s tough to pick just a few plot points to share here. First of all, Peter has a personal assistant robot that he has named Nobody, so he frequently has an inner monologue going that revolves around Nobody doing things. As a reader, it can be a little confusing to follow at first, but once you catch on, the humor of that situation is endless. This book came out shortly after the 2016 elections here in America, and one of the plots in the story is a new presidential election. The two candidates are a logical and earnest android named John of Us and a bombastic and nonsensical human named Conrad Cook. Cook frequently contradicts himself and shouts out that every idea he disagrees with is a “lie”. Read into that what you will…

Obviously, this book is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. It is a satire, taking the worst aspects of capitalism and American politics and culture to their extremes. It is also a little scary to think how close to some of the scenarios presented in the book we have already come. This is Kling’s first novel. He has an international following already, but I believe this title will certainly earn him some American fans. The biggest turn offs for readers are going to be the political scenes that are only thinly veiled references to existing figures as well as the sexual scenes that always lack appeal for certain audiences. From a Librarian’s perspective, this title is well-written, but as a Southern Librarian, this one might be a tough sell for the majority of my patrons (which will not stop me from strategically placing it in displays for the next few months).

Disclaimer: No disclaimer on this one. I heard about it on the All the Books Podcast and requested it from my local library.

My rating:

1 glass of lemonade= a book that can only be recommended to someone whose reading taste you know well, like a best friend. There may be a fair amount of curse words, spicy sex scenes, or potentially morally repugnant behavior. This does not mean that the book is bad, just that the audience might be a little more limited.

Sadly, despite the fact that I loved this book and rated it highly on Goodreads, the frequent references to masturbation and the political satire are going to make me hesitant to recommend it to random patrons. I am definitely intrigued to see how far HBO is going to do with their adaptation.

The Department of Sensitive Crimes by Alexander McCall-Smith

What up Kittens? I am in a fabulous mood after a weekend full of truly excellent reading. Finally, I have found for you the elusive 5 glasses of lemonade rating for a satisfying mystery that is NOT a cozy! Yes, you read that right. It is not a cozy…at least not in the traditional sense. The Department of Sensistive Crimes by Alexander McCall-Smith has been billed by his publishers (and presumably himself) as “Scandi Lite” or “Scandi blanc”. Supposedly it is a new subgenre in crime fiction and we’ll have to see if it takes off. I, for one, think people are really going to like this, but I’m not sure how it will play with hard-core mystery fans. For the time being, I like to think of Gretchen Wieners and “fetch” from Mean Girls whenever I think about McCall-Smith coining this new term. I also have to say that this book helped expand my vocabulary in a non-intimidating way. Here is a selection of the terms that I had to check the definition of from this book: concomitants, philately, auto-didact, abstruse, locus, solipsistic, perfidy, sinecure, and profligacy. For such a short book, it was quite the vocabulary lesson, but that only adds to the charm of this book for me.

Title: The Department of Sensitive Crimes

Author: Alexander McCall-Smith The Department of Sensitive Crimes (Detective Varg, #1)

Author website: https://www.alexandermccallsmith.com/

Publisher: Pantheon (division of Penguin Randomhouse)

Publish date: April 16^th, 2019

ISBN: 9781524748210

Buy the Book: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

Alexander McCall-Smith is probably best known for his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency novels, so starting a new series is likely no easy feat. In The Department of Sensitive Crimes we meet Ulf Varg, a detective who works as part of a small team to investigate the crimes that are deemed “sensitive” and therefore are diverted from the regular field police to this special unit. Varg drives a charming car and lives alone, his wife having left him some years before. He is an unassuming but thoughtful detective who might have a little bit of a crush on a coworker but would never act upon it. Throughout the course of the novel he will investigate a stabbing, multiple missing persons cases, and a concerning incident with a possible werewolf. Through it all, he maintains his calm and pleasant demeanor, even when working with those whose nonstop chatter might ruffle his feathers a little bit.

The Sensitive Crimes unit is charming and easy to like. In the unit we are introduced to the full range of characters we have come to expect in these situations, including the weekend angler whose just trying to collect a paycheck until he retires and the overeager workaholic who somehow manages to maintain a perfect home life. The reader may be expecting a dark turn any moment if they’re accustomed to Nordic Noir but **spoiler alert**, it never comes. This book is a comforting read and will appeal as much to fans of travel as it does to fans of cozy mysteries. Think of this title as what would result if Jan Karon wrote a mystery novel.

I have only a few minor criticisms of the novel itself, nothing that should dissuade readers in the least. First, Varg references the story of the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dyke. A little light digging on the Internet reveals this to be a largely American story that isn’t well known in Scandinavia, so it diminishes the setting a little bit for me. The second concern that I had was that the novel treats the presumed disappearance of a young lady somewhat lightly. It fits in with the theme of the entire novel, but it is a jarring turn of events from the traditional mystery novel which would treat that type of thing with urgency. The whole book gives the impression of a forced slow-down if the reader is a crime buff, and it does take some adjustment. Lastly, the book references the fact that the detective’s name translates to Wolf Wolf over and over again, but if there is any other connection to that, I missed it. Possibly it is a build up to a future novel, but it gets really repetitive after a while.

Nonetheless, I would have no trouble recommending this title to patrons. I can’t think of anything that would be a cause for significant complaint. I intend to start pulling this one out for people who are looking for a good easy read.

Disclaimer: No disclaimer needed on this one. I checked it out from my local library.

My rating:

lemonade_icon 5 glasses of lemonade= you could recommend this book to anyone. There is nothing in here that is going to upset anyone and you could start handing it out on street corners. (This kind of book is a Librarian’s dream. As much as we love good literature, suggesting a book for someone can be nerve-wracking work that can backfire BIG TIME.)

There’s no cursing, no gore. This book is nothing but charm and good humor set in a place that many people would love to visit. It will make you want to pop down to a cafe and have a warm beverage. Comfort reading at its best, but still with plenty of twists to keep you entertained.

Slay by Brittney Morris

Hello my Kitten Gods and Goddesses! I have an absolutely stunning debut YA novel to tell you about today. Being a Southerner and a Librarian, race is an ever-present part of my life and I am constantly challenging myself to make sure that I don’t allow my white privilege to overwhelm my perceptions of interactions with patrons. Even so, this next novel I’m telling you about opened my eyes to an experience I previously had not considered. Slay by Brittney Morris tells the story of a young black female video game designer named Kiera and her experiences when her game becomes a hot button topic in the news. This novel deals with social justice issues in an elegant format that delivers an emotional gut punch. I have already recommended this one to tons of people that I work with and I can’t wait to recommend it to patrons. The dedication reads, “To everyone who has ever had to minimize who you are to be palatable to those who aren’t like you.” My dear readers, we need more of that in this world.

Title: Slay

Author: Brittney Morris

Author website: https://www.authorbrittneymorris.com/

Publisher: Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster)

Publish date: September 24, 2019

ISBN: 9781534445420

Buy the Book: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

Kiera Johnson is just trying to live her life, going to a predominantly white private school, making good grades, being with her boyfriend Malcolm, and planning their future at HBCU’s (historically black colleges and universities for those of you not in-the-know). She’s just a normal teen…with a little bit of a secret. When she’s not at school, or hanging out with her friends or Malcolm, she is Emerald, a nubian Queen in the virtual reality video game “Slay”. Not only is she one of only two moderators of this game, she is one of the creators along with another gamer, username: Cicada. Slay is a video game that celebrates black culture and black identity. Entry into the game requires an invitation from an existing player and is a carefully guarded secret that helps to protect the safe space that the game has become. Kiera was just a gamer who noticed that many of the characters in mainstream video games, even ones with non-human characters showed a stunning lack of diversity. Either there were no black characters or they were portrayed as villains or somehow “less-than” characters. When she encountered this racism in gaming, she came up with her own solution: create a game that celebrates blackness in all its forms. The result is a triumph, with hundreds of thousands of users.

Kiera chooses to keep her gaming identity a secret from everyone in her life, essentially isolating a second persona that is just for herself: Emerald. Of course, her two lives can’t stay separate forever and when aspects of the game invade real life, Kiera becomes trapped in a nightmare. Media outlets have seized on the game and claim it is a refuge for violence that is exclusionary and discriminatory towards white players. Faced with the enormous task of protecting the safe space she has made for her players while also protecting her own identity, Kiera is in a crisis and doesn’t know how or who to go to for help.

This book was a phenomenal read. In addition to the primary tension between Kiera’s online life and her real life, there are layered stories of her relationships with her boyfriend, her sister, her predominantly white friends, and even her parents. The reader experiences all of the different pulls on Kiera’s time and attention and her fear when it all threatens to come crashing down is palpable. I have seen this novel described as Ready Player One meets The Hate U Give and I think that’s a fair description, but it is also so unique. Having read a good deal of YA fiction, Morris’ style of writing, blending inner monologues with game text and phone messaging to tell the story is unlike anything else that I have read.

This is a fast read that will stick with the reader long after the last page has been read. The story reads as though it could take place in almost any town in America, although it is actually set near Atlanta. Kiera deals with so many of the issues that minority students across the country deal with in school. She is put into spokesperson-like roles for her entire race by students who she considers friends and she’s frustrated by the responsibility that she feels for educating them on these issues. This book does what all truly important books do, it challenges the reader to look into themselves and make a judgment. This is must-read for 2019 as far as I am concerned.

Want to go further into this world? The book has its own website where you can see some of the features about the game described in the book. Plus, if my review hasn’t sold you, there is an epic book trailer on there! https://www.slaythebook.com/.

In general, I’m leery of what happens when a book becomes a movie, but please, someone try to make this book into a movie. It’s that good.

Disclaimer: No disclaimer needed here. I heard about this book several months back on a podcast and added it to my Goodreads TBR list. When Goodreads emailed me that it was now available, I checked with my library and lo-and-behold, there it was. There was almost no line on this book, and that is an absolute shame.

My rating:

lemonade_icon 4 glasses of lemonade= a book you could recommend to a book group or anybody who reads. You might find controversial subject matter, but it is handled delicately.

Social justice can be a tricky subject, but actually, I put this one at 4 glasses of lemonade because of an emotionally abusive relationship in the book. It also includes a physical relationship between teenagers that I can promise you some of my patron’s parents would flip their lid if I gave them. This story is absolutely appropriate for adults and I think most teens could not only handle it, they would benefit greatly from reading this story.

Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall

Guten Tag Kittens! I don’t know about y’all, but Fall is just starting to make its presence known here in the South. Whatever the calendar might say, it’s been hot as Hades around here and I am loving the 15 degree drop in temperature we got this weekend. When the heat gets too oppressive down here I like to dive in to a read that gives me the heebie jeebies. Thankfully, I won a copy of Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall which cooled me down quick by giving me goosebumps for hours. This YA horror title came out just a few weeks ago and deserves some attention.

Title: Rules for Vanishing

Author: Kate Alice Marshall 42872940

Author website: http://katemarshallbooks.com/

Publisher: Viking Books (Penguin Randomhouse imprint)

Publish date: September 24, 2019

ISBN: 9781984837011

Buy the Book: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

If you’re looking for a YA horror novel going into the haunting season, this one is a good bet. Rules for Vanishing follows two sisters, Sara and Becca, in Briar Glen, MA, in the spring of 2017. Told in the form of interview transcripts from a Dr. Ashford, first-person accounts from a number of teenage participants, and text messaging/email transcripts from the involved teens. One year ago, Sara’s sister Becca disappeared in the woods near the hometown. She was rumored to have been involved in a game related to a local legend about another teenage girl who disappeared in those woods named Lucy Gallows. For some reason, people in town believe that Becca ran away with a boy that she was dating, but Sara doesn’t buy it. She can’t figure out why people aren’t taking the legend seriously, but despite her own doubts, the legend of Lucy Gallows is her only lead, and she’s determined to follow that road in the woods wherever it may lead.

When all of the students at the local high school get a text message challenging them to solve the clues and go to the woods to free Lucy Gallows, many believe that Sara is behind taunt, but a few of her friends from before Becca disappeared are less certain, and they want to be there for Sara in any way they can. So, on the preordained night, the teens meet in the woods and the road appears to them. The rules for the road seem simple: stay with your partner, stay on the road, don’t let go, thirteen steps, get through all of the gates and you’ll be able to leave. The road is not easy and the teens are in for a horrifying trip from which they will not all return.

This read reminded me a lot of Melissa Albert’s The Hazel Wood. You’ve got teens in the woods on a magical and terrifying journey where they are in over their heads and being influenced by forces beyond their comprehension. The narrative style of Rules for Vanishing is unique, blending a little of the Blair Witch Project with modern technology to an enthralling effect. The paranoia builds and the reader is on the road just as much as the teens are, trying to figure out who to trust and keeping track of all of the major players and their motives. There’s more than just horror in this story however, as it also addresses the bonds of sisterhood as well as the evolving nature of multiple relationships.

The road gets real pretty fast, and while the copy I’ve got lists the ages as 12 and up, I would probably say 15 and up would be more appropriate. But then again, I’m a scaredy cat who won’t watch horror films and will only read YA horror, nothing more hardcore. The characters are well developed and the setting is richly detailed. The set-up is also there for additional books, focusing more on the mysterious Dr. Ashford than the sisters in this case. The ending is a little ambiguous for my taste, but the storytelling was masterful and I truly didn’t see any of the twists coming. If more titles are coming from this author, I definitely want to read them.

Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Readers’ Edition of this title from the publisher via BookishFirst with the expectation that I would write an honest review.

My rating:

lemonade_icon 2 glasses of lemonade= a book that you could probably recommend to family and close friends. They may not like everything that’s in it, but they’re not going to start sending you cards with holy scripture written in them as messages to get you back on the path of righteousness after reading them either.

This one gets a lower lemonade rating because there are some gruesome deaths and there’s a homosexual relationship. Before you get your pitchforks, remember that I am a Southern Librarian talking about the recommend-ability of this book to potential patrons. I loved this book, but I would hesitate to recommend it because of those two things unless I had a clear idea of the patron’s comfort level with those topics.

Dragonslayer by Duncan M. Hamilton

Hello Kittens! My experiment to read a little bit from every genre continues to succeed beyond what I could ever imagine. Had you asked me a few years ago, I would have told you vociferously that I do not read the Science Fiction or Fantasy genres. More and more, I am discovering that I am wrong about that. This week’s book is a case in point. I had never heard of Duncan Hamilton before, but now I am hooked and incredibly frustrated that the next book in this fantasy series is month’s away from publication. Also, I can now bond with my patrons on a certain library-related matter because my library does not currently carry Mr. Hamilton’s books! I’ll be working on that from my end, but in the meantime, I’ll be going to the next county over to read more from this author who shows us that chivalry is not dead, but it has put on a few pounds.

Title: Dragonslayer

Author: Duncan M. Hamilton Dragonslayer

Author website: https://duncanmhamilton.com/

Publisher: Tor

Publish date: 7/2/19

ISBN: 9781250209719 (for the uncorrected proof copy I read)

Buy the Book: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

Many people are looking for a great adventure now that the Game of Thrones TV series has come to an end and it’s going to be a while before we get the next book in that series (fingers crossed all you book optimists). Dragonslayer may help slake the thirst of those who want to dig in to another adventure featuring noble knights, sellswords, magic, and dragons. The story is set in the land of Mirabaya and focuses on the stories of Guillot de Villerauvais (also known as “Gill”), Solène, and Alpheratz. Gill is the last living Chevalier of the Silver Circle, a legendary group of knights that were known for ridding the lands of dragons, at least until the last few generations, when they became known for less-chivalrous activities such as drinking and gambling. Solène is a young woman living in a village in Mirabaya who is trying very hard to hide the fact that she possesses magical abilities. Magic has been outlawed throughout the land and she risks her life if she is discovered, but she is not in complete control of her abilities. Alpheratz is a dragon who has awoken from a long slumber to find that the world is nothing like he remembers.

As Gill is called upon to serve his country after years of wallowing in self-pity and alcoholic beverages on the outskirts of civilization, many will wonder if he is up to this task. Dragons were thought to be either extinct or a fairy tale and Gill hasn’t won a fight against something as measly as his own willpower in many years. Facing this threat will help restore some of his lost honor and give his life meaning again…possibly. Either way, as the last Chevalier of the Silver Circle, he’s the only option that Mirabaya has.

Solène, on the other hand, is finding the potential for freedom in this new quest. On the run for most of her life, she has finally found a community that does not shun her abilities. In fact, they appear to welcome it. She’s not out of danger, since magic is not accepted in the world at large, but with the protection of a seemingly all-powerful benefactor with connections to the king, Solène begins to relax her guard. Having met Gill, she has not doubt about his honor, but some significant concerns about his ability to get the job done. She’s willing to risk a lot to see that he succeeds.

Alperatz is out for vengeance. The humans have taken his family and his community from him. They have invaded his inner sanctum and misused the magic of this world. He intends to see them all punished for that. After all, with all of his kind gone, what does he have to look forward to other than an extended lifetime of loneliness?

At the beginning of the story none of these characters know each other but their destinies become entwined as everything progresses. The story has political intrigue, power struggles, betrayals, magical objects, and an only partially recovered history of events. It is incredibly fast-paced, putting a lot of storyline and history into 300 pages. Hamilton’s earlier works are also set in this world, but are not necessary to understand this story. The world-building is complex but not overwhelming for the first novel in this trilogy. There are plenty of questions left unanswered, but the reader gets all of the information that they need in the meantime.

The writing is simply beautiful. Hamilton’s work appears to have primarily been self-published up until this series, so hopefully working with a mainstream publisher will give him the recognition to launch these books to a larger audience. Fans of fantasy will enjoy the action-packed fight scenes and character development. With a cliffhanger ending that will have readers asking how soon the next book will be published, this is a promising start to a series I intend to see through to the end.

Disclaimer: I received an advance uncorrected proof of this title from the publisher through BookishFirst in exchange for an honest review.

My rating: The book has some death scenes that can get a little gruesome. It is an epic battle for survival after all. I don’t think that will stop most readers, but it is worth mentioning.

lemonade_icon 4 glasses of lemonade= a book you could recommend to a book group or anybody who reads. You might find controversial subject matter, but it is handled delicately.