Please Note:  I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  This did not influence the opinions in my review in any way.

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Dorothy Moy breaks her own heart for a living.

As Washington’s former poet laureate, that’s how she describes channeling her dissociative episodes and mental health struggles into her art. But when her five-year-old daughter exhibits similar behavior and begins remembering things from the lives of their ancestors, Dorothy believes the past has truly come to haunt her. Fearing that her child is predestined to endure the same debilitating depression that has marked her own life, Dorothy seeks radical help.

Through an experimental treatment designed to mitigate inherited trauma, Dorothy intimately connects with past generations of women in her family: Faye Moy, a nurse in China serving with the Flying Tigers; Zoe Moy, a student in England at a famous school with no rules; Lai King Moy, a girl quarantined in San Francisco during a plague epidemic; Greta Moy, a tech executive with a unique dating app; and Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to set foot in America.

As painful recollections affect her present life, Dorothy discovers that trauma isn’t the only thing she’s inherited. A stranger is searching for her in each time period. A stranger who’s loved her through all of her genetic memories. Dorothy endeavors to break the cycle of pain and abandonment, to finally find peace for her daughter, and gain the love that has long been waiting, knowing she may pay the ultimate price.

Review:

I don't know exactly how to describe the new book, The Many Daughters of Afong Moy, by Jamie Ford.  It goes beyond speculative fiction to include elements of historical fiction, and fantasy to show a world where climate change can bring on typhoons to Seattle, and medicine that can help one relive their family's traumas.  With both a storm brewing in her city, and another storm churning chaos in her personal life, the main character, Dorothy is barely hanging on.  When traditional therapy fails, she seeks a radical type of treatment where one can remember the traumatic events of their ancestors, in the hopes that by understanding the past, one can change to course of one's future.  It's a very intriguing premise.  

But in order to tell the story of Dorothy's family, we the reader must also experience the traumas of these characters.  I found that I needed breaks from the book because the situations were really upsetting, which shows that the author really got me to connect with the characters.  But it made for a very exhausting reading experience.  Have a light, romantic comedy ready in the wings to get you out of the funk you will find yourself in.

What I Liked:

Theme:

The idea of generational trauma is still new to me, and probably to many others.  But essentially, it's the theory that the trauma of one generation effects the next.  The Disney movie Encanto is a good (if somewhat simplified) example of this.  The grandmother has a terrible trauma of fleeing with her family to escape the violence in her hometown, only to see her husband murdered in front of her.  This effects how she raises her children, who are under intense pressure to be perfect.   

Dorothy is affected by the trauma and subsequent depression of her mother.  This manifests in Dorothy, herself, having depression and suicidal thoughts.  She has a precious young daughter, and knows that if she doesn't get herself together, this will affect her little girl, later on. 

Characters:

Dorothy may be having a terrible time managing her life, but she is a fierce mother who will do anything for her daughter.  She has enough self-awareness to understand that her actions are affecting her child, and so embarks on a journey to understand her family, and heal herself.  I found Dorothy to be really strong, even while having a messy life.  And I was rooting for her the whole time.

Her ancestors also had determined spirits.  But each of them had a mixture of mistakes, social conventions, and historical events that oppressed them.  Afong Moy is obligated to become a "Ghost Bride" when her arranged marriage is disrupted by the death of her fiancé. Her granddaughter has to escape San Francisco to escape a pandemic.  Another ascestor becomes pregnant as a teen and must give up her baby.  All of them have a tragic story and demise.

What I Didn't Like:

Non-Stop Trauma:

There was so much trauma in each of the storylines, it made the book difficult to read.  Of course, generational trauma is the theme of the book.  But no one in her family catches a break.  I wish the author would have tempered the terrible events with showing some of the characters triumphs.  Several of the characters have to leave one country and start over again in another.  It  takes a lot of courage and fortitude to start over in a foreign land.  I wish the author would have brought this up more often in their story.  Otherwise, it really seems like there were generations of this family who never had a moment of happiness.

Story Line:

There are more storylines than I could keep up with.  All of them were compelling, but I found myself (several times) being taken out of the story to try and figure out which ancestor's story this was.  I hope that in the finished book there is a timeline or family tree that one can reference in order to keep all the stories straight. 

Rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Release Date:  August 2nd, 2022

Author:  Jamie Ford

Publisher: Atria Books

Genre: Speculative Fiction

Source:  NetGalley

Format:  E-Book

Recommendation:  While this was a well-written, and  interesting book, it is also full of trauma.  It took me a long time to read this book because I needed to walk away from it several times. If you're up to it, I think it is a solid, powerful book. 

Please Note:  I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  This did not influence the opinions in my review in any way.

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

“You are the next step in human evolution.”

At first, Logan Ramsay isn’t sure if anything’s different. He just feels a little . . . sharper. Better able to concentrate. Better at multitasking. Reading a bit faster, memorizing better, needing less sleep.

But before long, he can’t deny it: Something’s happening to his brain. To his body. He’s starting to see the world, and those around him—even those he loves most—in whole new ways.

The truth is, Logan’s genome has been hacked. And there’s a reason he’s been targeted for this upgrade. A reason that goes back decades to the darkest part of his past, and a horrific family legacy.

Worse still, what’s happening to him is just the first step in a much larger plan, one that will inflict the same changes on humanity at large—at a terrifying cost.

Because of his new abilities, Logan’s the one person in the world capable of stopping what’s been set in motion. But to have a chance at winning this war, he’ll have to become something other than himself. Maybe even something other than human.

And even as he’s fighting, he can’t help wondering: what if humanity’s only hope for a future really does lie in engineering our own evolution?

Intimate in scale yet epic in scope, Upgrade is an intricately plotted, lightning-fast tale that charts one man’s thrilling transformation, even as it asks us to ponder the limits of our humanity—and our boundless potential.

Review:

Upgrade, by Blake Crouch, was a fun, fast-past thriller.  In a world where it's become easy to alter your DNA, doing so is illegal, and for good reason.  Logan's own mother was the architect of a scheme to alter DNA to help increase food production, but it had world-wide disastrous results.  Now, to alleviate his guilt, he has become part of a special law-enforcement unit to catch people changing DNA.  This could be done for profit (there's a market for genetically enhanced animals), or for terrorism.  Either way, it's almost impossible to put that genie back in the box. 

How do you get past the baggage of your family?  And what are you willing to give up in order to save the world?  I really enjoyed this book, and could easily see this as a highly entertaining movie.  If you enjoy thrillers and speculative fiction, you are in for a treat.

What I Liked:

Set-Up:

Logan lives in a world where scientists (specifically, his own mother) have tried, and failed, to use DNA splicing to fiddle with Nature.  Changing DNA has become easy, and many people would love to use the technology to do anything from create enormous alligators, to obtain super human abilities.  I loved all the science, gadgets, and back-channel government organizations.  This is a world where one should be paranoid!

Characters: 

Logan has tremendous guilt over his part in starting a global disaster.  He blindly followed his charismatic mother, a scientific genius, as she tried to play god.  Now, after doing prison time for the incident, he is doing what he can to mitigate the damage he has done.  But it will never be enough. 

Logan is the ultimate people-pleaser.  First, he worships his brilliant mother, seeing (too late) that she is an egomaniac.  He also can't match his sister, who is a badass military officer.  He is constantly trying to be someone he isn't.  He even does this to his wife and child.  The guilt is killing him.  I loved that Logan didn't have all the answers.  He is the sidekick who tries, and fails to become the hero.  But, in doing so, he has the one thing his mother and sister don't, a moral compass.  

Story:

There's a lot of twists and turns in this story, which I loved.  You often don't know who the good guys are?  And I don't think the "good guys" really understand if they are doing anything wrong.  It's that old adage of the ends justify the means.  Which never really absolve one of accountability.  If you have to use that excuse, you've already lost the argument.  

This was  a quick and absorbing read, and would make a perfect summer vacation escape. 

Rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Release Date:  July 12th, 2022

Author:  Blake Crouch

Publisher:  Ballantine Books

Genre:  Speculative Fiction

Page Length:  352 Pages

Source:  NetGalley

Format:  E-Book

Recommendation:  This was a really fun thriller filled with science, genetics, and family ghosts.  If your in the mood for some escapism, you will love this book.

Please Note:  I received an advance copy of this novel from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  This did not influence the opinions in my review in any way.

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

One quiet afternoon in 2037, Joyce Denzell hears a thud in her family’s home library and finds a book lying in the middle of the room, seemingly waiting for her―a book whose copyright page says it was published in the year 2200. Over the next twenty-four hours, each of the Denzell family members discovers and reads from this mystical history book from the future, nudged along by their cat, Plato.

As the various family members take turns reading, they gradually uncover the story of Gabe, Mia, and Ruth—a saga of adventure, endurance, romance, mystery, and hope that touches them all deeply. Along the way, the Denzells all begin to believe that this book that has seemingly fallen out of time and space and into their midst might actually be from the future—and that it might have something vitally important to teach them.

Engaging, playful, and thought-provoking, Hope is a seven-generation-spanning vision of the future as it could be—based on scientific projections, as well as historical and legal precedence—that will leave readers grappling with questions of destiny, responsibility, and the possibility for hope in a future world.

Review:

This is going to be a tough review for me to write.  I think the author of this book, G. G. Kellner, has the best of intentions when writing, Hope: a History of The Future.  Her warnings about the devastating consequences of Global Warming are sincere and heartfelt.  She is presenting a possible future where the world is in chaos.  With rising sea-levels comes flooding of low laying lands.  Higher temperatures mean food shortages, and instability.  And society has completely broken down.

However, there is no actual story in this book.  

What I Didn't Like:

There are two families presented.  In the near future there is Joyce and her blended family.  Joyce finds a book that purports to be a history of the world and that it is written in the year 2200.  The future.  Joyce, and eventually her whole family, read about what happens in the future, and seriously believe this is a magical book that is telling them about what will happen.  It would have been an eerie twist if there had been references to any of the family in the magical book.  If that happened, it would have at least been plausible for the characters to believe this was a real document about the future.  However, this doesn't happen.  All they can talk about is global warming.  You barely get a chance to know who these people are or anything.  They have no other purpose in the story than to react to the book.

In the book Joyce is reading, there is a history of what happens through a diary of someone's great-grandmother.  Again, there is very little character development.  All the characters talk about is climate change.  The main characters in this part of the story go on a long journey on a boat to escape what they fear is happening.  While their tale of survival is compelling, there was very little character development during what would be a life-altering experience.  In their two (or three) year trip, there was zero friction between the characters.  No one got on each other's nerves.  There was no self-doubt about if they were doing the right thing.  I found that to be wildly unrealistic.

Plus, the society that eventually forms out of this is a ridiculous utopia.  There is no money, everyone adheres to a Universal Bill of Rights, and (again) there is absolutely no conflict.  Overall, I found this novel to be preach and heavy-handed.  In a story, the characters have to change over time.  This never happened.  There are other books where climate change is a major theme, but there is an actual story.  Check out Gravity is Heartless by Sarah Lahey.  These books are character driven and are really wonderful.

Rating:  ⭐⭐

Release Date:  April 19th, 2022

Author:  G.G. Kellner

Publisher:  Spark Press

Genre:  Speculative Fiction

Page Length: 336 Pages

Format:  E-Book

Source:  NetGalley

Recommendation:  While it was sincere, this story was too preachy about climate change. I can't recommend it.

Please Note:  I received an advance copy of this novel from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  This did not influence the opinions in my review in any way.

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

An impossible crime. A detective on the edge of madness. The future of time travel at stake. From the author of The Warehouse.

January Cole’s job just got a whole lot harder.

Not that running security at the Paradox was ever really easy. Nothing’s simple at a hotel where the ultra-wealthy tourists arrive costumed for a dozen different time periods, all eagerly waiting to catch their “flights” to the past.

Or where proximity to the timeport makes the clocks run backward on occasion—and, rumor has it, allows ghosts to stroll the halls.

None of that compares to the corpse in room 526. The one that seems to be both there and not there. The one that somehow only January can see.

On top of that, some very important new guests have just checked in. Because the U.S. government is about to privatize time-travel technology—and the world’s most powerful people are on hand to stake their claims.

January is sure the timing isn’t a coincidence. Neither are those “accidents” that start stalking their bidders.

There’s a reason January can glimpse what others can’t. A reason why she’s the only one who can catch a killer who’s operating invisibly and in plain sight, all at once.

But her ability is also destroying her grip on reality—and as her past, present, and future collide, she finds herself confronting not just the hotel’s dark secrets but her own.

At once a dazzlingly time-twisting murder mystery and a story about grief, memory, and what it means to—literally—come face-to-face with our ghosts, The Paradox Hotel is another unforgettable speculative thrill ride from acclaimed author Rob Hart.

Review:

I really enjoyed Rob Hart's previous novel, The Warehouse, with it's Amazon-esque mega corporation controlling America.  The Paradox Hotel, Hart's newest science-fiction thriller, speculates on what would happen if time travel were found to be possible.  Would the ultra-wealthy take time travel vacations to, say, 1776 Philadelphia to watch the signing of the Declaration of Independence ?  Would they try to manipulate the past to gain even more power?  Both seem likely.

This novel is full of the fun aspects of how time travel would work, and (of course) of all the potential pitfalls.  It is also a wonderful character study of a person experiencing grief. Add to that a timey-wimey mystery, and you have yourself a highly entertaining novel.  I loved it!

What I Liked:

Time Travel (The Good, The Bad, and the Timey-Wimey):

The novel takes place sometime in the distant future where time travel has been invented, and monetized by the U.S. government.  The Paradox Hotel is a launching off point for time travel "vacations" by those who can afford it.  There are people traveling to ancient Egypt, the Aztec period of Mexico, and all sorts of other destinations!  But how will that work?  I won't spoil it, but I'll just say that the author has had fun fleshing out all the details.  

  via GIPHY

January Cole works as the head of security at the hotel.  But she has also traveled back in time to stop people from trying to change the future.  Too much time travel leads a person to become Unstuck.  There are different stages of being Unstuck, from small moments of déjà vu in the first stage, to all out madness in stage three.   January is in denial, but she is nearly at stage three, which makes it hard for her to be taken seriously when she starts to see the future deaths of some of the guests.

Characters:

January, the main character, is not immediately likable.  Since the hotel is it's own little universe, everyone who works there has become part of a found family.  But January, always rude and sarcastic, has never felt close to her co-workers.  This changes when she falls in love with Mina, another employee at the hotel.  Mina draws her in, and helps her learn to be part of the life of their little community.  When Mina tragically dies (before the start of the novel), January reverts back to her introverted ways.  But others now know she is actually a smart, fierce friend.  They try mightily to keep her connected with the group.  

January's grief is a huge part of the book.  How do you deal with the death of a loved one if that was the only person who you felt really got you?  January actually has lots of other people cheering her on.  But her grief is so deep that she can't see it. 

Mystery:

This was another entertaining aspect of the book.  The U.S. government, hard up for cash, is taking bids from Billionaires to take over the hotel and time-travel tourism.  There are ego's in abundance as entitled mega-rich guys (yes, all guys), come to the hotel for a conference.  But January sees parts of a future where several people wind up dead.  Who is trying to stop the conference?  Is it one of the groups opposed to time travel? Or could it be someone who is trying to get rid of their competition?  And, who let the dinosaurs loose in the hotel lobby?  It's all connected.  This is a complex mystery, but it keeps the story moving forward.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Release Date:  February 22nd, 2022

Author:  Rob Hart

Publisher:  Ballantine Books

Genre:  Speculative Fiction

Page Length:  336 pages

Source:  NetGalley

Format:  E-book

Recommendation:  This is really entertaining, and establishes Rob Hart as right up there with Andy Weir as one of the best science fiction writers around now.  Read this book! 

Please Note:  I received an advance copy of this novel from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  This did not influence the opinions in my review in any way.

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Conspiracies abound in this surreal and yet all-too-real technothriller in which a deadly underground alternate reality game might just be altering reality itself, set in the same world as the popular Rabbits podcast.

It's an average work day. You've been wrapped up in a task, and you check the clock when you come up for air--4:44 pm. You go to check your email, and 44 unread messages have built up. With a shock, you realize it is April 4th--4/4. And when you get in your car to drive home, your odometer reads 44,444. Coincidence? Or have you just seen the edge of a rabbit hole?

Rabbits is a mysterious alternate reality game so vast it uses our global reality as its canvas. Since the game first started in 1959, ten iterations have appeared and nine winners have been declared. Their identities are unknown. So is their reward, which is whispered to be NSA or CIA recruitment, vast wealth, immortality, or perhaps even the key to unlocking the secrets of the universe itself. But the deeper you get, the more deadly the game becomes. Players have died in the past--and the body count is rising.

And now the eleventh round is about to begin. Enter K--a Rabbits obsessive who has been trying to find a way into the game for years. That path opens when K is approached by billionaire Alan Scarpio, the alleged winner of the sixth iteration. Scarpio says that something has gone wrong with the game and that K needs to fix it before Eleven starts or the whole world will pay the price.

Five days later, Scarpio is declared missing. Two weeks after that, K blows the deadline and Eleven begins. And suddenly, the fate of the entire universe is at stake.

Review:

It seems that more people believe in conspiracy theories now than every before.  I think that's because there's too much information for us to consume.  It is impossible to keep up with everything that is going on, so we might easily believe we are missing something big happening right under our noses.  It's this paranoia that fuels conspiracy theories.  The book Rabbits, by Terry Miles, feeds into this by being about a vast, secret game where the winners will get untold riches and their heart's desire if only they can find the clues.  Although it can get very twisty with its plot, this had wonderful characters, and lots of mystery.  It was a scary and enjoyable book.

What I Liked:

Characters:

I think there are many people who will identify with K.  He is an extreme gamer, getting a thrill from uncovering secret messages from books, social media, and pop culture. The subversive nature of Rabbits is extremely alluring to him.  But, he also can become obsessed with finding meaning in everything.  This is great for games, but exhausting for his friends.  I liked that K did want to work with his friends to solve the mystery.  He was not a loner.  Perhaps this is due to him losing his parents from a young age.

Chloe is also deeply interested in Rabbits.  But she doesn't get in so deep that she loses all sense of the real world.  She holds down a job, and is very responsible.  She cares deeply for K and her other friends.  And that is why she follows along on some of K's more hare-brained ideas.  She is looking out for him.

Concept:

This book is written by Terry Miles, who also has a podcast called "Rabbits" , which I started listening to after I read the book.  Both the podcast and the book capitalize on people's fears that we, as a culture, are being manipulated by some someone, or something that permeates all parts of society.  It's like a more subtle, non political, version of the Q conspiracy.  It's fascinating to see how easily people can get sucked in.  The game Rabbits utilizes all types of media to sprinkle clues around: social media, movies, books, political rhetoric, music, art, you name it.  I think if there would be a game such as Rabbits, it would be hard to keep it a secret, given how popular it would instantly become.

Issues of Mental Health:

Part of the mystery of the book is whether or not K is playing a game called Rabbits, or is having a mental health episode.  It really could be either.  K shows signs of having a mental break from reality, with strange things happening that only he can see, losing minutes (and then, hours) of time, obsessive behavior, and paranoia.  While he realizes that he might have a mental illness, he also realizes that he can't confide in anyone.  Imagine if you experienced seeing really bizarre things, had physical symptoms of anxiety attacks, forgot what you were doing for days at a time.  You would desperately want to be believed.  Now imagine if you want to be believed, but you also secretly dread that you need help.  This may be what people struggling with mental illness experience. 

What I Was Mixed About:

While, of course, the plot of the book is meant to be twisty, it was sometimes hard to follow.  You will need to be really current on your pop culture, and have a working knowledge of Theoretical String Theory, to be able to follow all the action without getting lost, at least at some point.   I had to go back and re-read some passages to see if I could figure out what was happening.  It was at times both frustrating and really fun. 

Rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Release Date:  June 8th, 2021

Author:  Terry Miles

Publisher: Del Rey Books

Genre:  Spectulative Fiction

Pager Length:  448 Pages

Source:  NetGalley

Format:  E-Book

Recommendation:  If you like a good conspiracy with lots of pop cultural references, you're in for a treat!  This was a really fun book.