Imago (Xenogenesis #3) by Octavia E. Butler

Format: Audio

Narrated by: Barrett Aldrich

Lenght: 8 hrs and 18 mins

Series: Xenogenesis (#3 and Final)

Previous Book: Adulthood Rites

Source: Audible

Genres: Science Fiction

Publisher: Audible Studios

Publication date: May 2nd 2014 (first published 1989)

First impression

What an amazing trilogy. I am so glad this was my first contact with the work of Octavia E. Butler, because I completely loved every book and the series as a whole. In this book we encounter Jodahs, another son of Lilith and her Oankali family; a construct. For the first time, a construct that is turning into an ooloi, the first one to come from human parents. Once again, Butler explores how we deal with the unknown and the changes this brings to everyone including yourself.

Final thoughts

I think I have never encountered and author that makes me question what identity really is like Octavia E. Butler with this series. Not only to what a human is, but all those little labels that we gather through our lives: male, female, foreign, normal, etc. This third book is off course not exception, and it comes in the form of a coming-of-age for the main character, Jodhas, who as it turns out, won't be male or female, since the ooloi are neither. First we see its own struggle it has accepting what he is becoming and at the same trying to explain to others so they will not only understand this new step in the Oankali-Human relationship but also so they will accept it and hopefully embrace it.

Once again, as in the rest of the series, the subject of xenophobia is discussed at large, except that in this book, is not just humans who are afraid, the Oankali don't know what to do with Jodhas, and fear what its presence might mean. I loved that she (Butler) shows so beautifully how the unknown is always scary, independent of our background, but that at the same time, we don't need to be afraid. Acceptance is always present in this trilogy, sometimes reluctantly, but always there.

Jodhas has this ability to modify its appearance to make whoever is around more comfortable, to adapt to others and I found this extremely interesting, as it cannot help but do it, most of the time it wouldn't realize this was happening until someone else pointed this out. This is something so common in relationships, we change a bit, not to much that we lose ourselves, but enough to reflect our new situation. The problem of changing so much that our identity is lost is also addressed, but I don't want to discuss it too much, as I fear it might give some spoilers.

I particularly enjoyed the feeling of family portrayed in the book. While sometimes it would seem like a more complicated structure, at the end it is always a net of support, with all of the members being woven together by love, expectations and belonging.

The other thing that the trilogy addresses in an impressive way is sexuality, and what it might mean to a person (or to an Oankali). What it might mean to feel and identify as male, female, both or neither and how others that might be more accustomed to a more black-and-white perspective would respond to this perspective being challenged. I can only say that Octavia E. Butler was a genius being able to put herself in the skin of so many issues and most importantly being able to transmit these feelings in her writing.

I would recommend this series to anyone seeking a brilliant sci-fi series with a lot of social subtext.

The Evolution of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #2) by Michelle Hodkin

First impression

When I first read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, I was pleasantly surprised; the book had a fair amount of diverse characters and most importantly the whole story was driven not by the romance part between Mara and Noah, but on the mystery that IS Mara. I was very excited to read the second book. As it turns out, it was very entertaining…I almost gave it a full 5, but then…the end left me rolling my eyes a bit too hard, and hence I took a full star.

Final thoughts

In general I really like the series so far. Mara is complicated but not in an annoying way, she reads as a smart, complex girl with a big problem that she cannot understand, nor control. I like that, while she is crazy about Noah, the story doesn’t seem to revolve around their relationship.

I particularly enjoyed the flashbacks in India; I was looking forward a full mythology development, with the references to Maat and other points I thought that was where the author was going to take us, and oh boy was I hoping for something like that. Even with the Santeria everything was pointing to something more mythological….so when the end came I was flabbergasted and not in a god way. I am going to try to not ruin the end for you guys, so I will not mention the specifics. But the truth is that the end for me was ludicrous, at the same time in satisfying and worst of all, seemed like it belonged to a completely different story. One thing that I ask from fiction is that everything happening in the described world makes sense in it.

Maybe the author wanted to throw us in the wrong direction, with diversion all along the way. But really? This “explanation” felt as farfetched as they come and not to sound like 14 year old me, but I can’t even deal with the end you guys, I can’t.

And still I gave it a 4. Why you ask? Because removing the past 20 or so pages of the book I really liked it. The whole psychological part for Mara; the new character;, the fact that Jamie was back; the fact that I read this book in 2 days because it flows so easily; it all account to a very amusing read. Will I be reading the next book? Probably, just to close the trilogy. But I will remain frustrated about the end of this one.

 

The Witch Sisters and The Descent by Alma Katsu (The Taker #2.5 and #3)

First impression

I really liked the two first book of this trilogy so I was quite eager to finish it. I am happy I read the short story The Witch Sisters since it gave more context to what was happening in the third and final book. I was a bit disappointed with the story of the latter however; there is more about Adair's past and it was interesting to see Lanore "confront her demons" but...there was something missing; the darkness present in the previous books was there but felt diluted. It was still a nice roundup of the story but I was hoping for more.

Final thoughts

When I started reading The Descent I kept feeling like I had forgotten stuff from the second book. As it turns out, it just happens that I didn't and Katsu simply decided to turn things around quite a bit. I don't want to give spoilers, but since this happened in the first pages, here it is. Luke is dead...dead! It felt so out of the blue to just take him out of the picture, but oh well.

I like Adair, as twisted as he is and I enjoyed the back story development. I was even surprised at the end. But...this calmer version of Adair has its downfall and it just fell flat compared to the dark, sinister character presented in the other books.

Lanore stays more or less true to herself and as I mentioned it gave a nice closure to her side of the story when she had to confront her friends and foes. But once again, it feels like a fading, washed out version of her. In the past books she felt strong, determined...here it was almost like just going through the motions.

I rounded the rating to a 4 because the end itself was different. It just feels like is a book from a completely different series. Even the cover seems to go for a different story, compared to the gorgeous and mysterious previous ones. Oh well.

The Preacher by Camilla Läckberg (Fjällbacka #2)

First impression

Depending on where you check this series it might be either advertised as Fjälbacka's or Patrick Hedström's. I want to mention this because as much as I like the series I was hoping for more of Erica Falck as a main character and so I've realized that the second nomination might be more accurate.

But enough of that bit of complaining. A lot of people might think that Camilla Läckberg only jumped in the noir novella wagon after the whole Millenium hype, but this is not true. She has been working on this series for a while now and she does it masterfully. I love this dark, everyone has huge issues, books and in general Swedish noir novelists scratch that itch perfectly.

Final thoughts

Set once again in Fjällbacka, which by the way seems like it is a beautiful place, the book opens with a murdered girl set upon a pile of bones. Detective Patrick Hedström is placed in charge of the investigation. As evidence scarcely appears, it awakens the memories of 2 disappearances more than 20 years ago; disappearances that touched one of the most prominent families of the town, the Hults, dividing them irremediably.

Here is the thing about this author. In both of her books she manages to make me suspect everyone, and always to steer me slightly in the wrong direction so by the end I am still surprise with final events. With a very well paced prose I embarked full into the story from the beginning. Without realizing it, the first night I spent 2 hours reading and I would've continue if it wasn't because I had to work the next day.

This is not a gory book, and that is one of the reasons why I like the style so much. Is more based on suspense than anything else; twist and turns; hidden psychological problems and off course the tension of a relative small population.

I was a bit disappointed as I mentioned before about the fact that Erica is no longer the main character (maybe she never was?) in this book she is relegated to staying at home since she is in the latest stage of her pregnancy. It also drives me crazy what happens to Anna, but I will not comment much on it since I do not want to give any spoilers away.

I will be reading the third book of the series because I like Camilla's style so much. Can't wait to see what else happens in Fjällbacka.

 

Adulthood Rites (Xenogenesis #2) by Octavia E. Butler

First impression

After I finished Dawn I knew I had to continue the trilogy. The world that Butler built in for this story is full of complicated, rich characters, both human an alien. Xenogenesis explores the union or fusion of these two groups through the main character Akin, the first human-Oankali male construct. Butler continues to explore human nature, a contradiction in itself, this time seen from the eyes of someone that is not fully human, nor fully alien.

Final thoughts

Butler touches so many subject in such a swift, seamless manner that you don't realize you are thinking about social issues until you put the book (or headphones in my case) down and have this feeling of "wow"

Lillith takes a secondary role in this installment; as I mentioned it is Akin who takes center stage trying to merge the two points of view: a very guttural, visceral one coming from his human side and partners, and a more logical, cold one from this Oankali side. He represents, to me at least, the struggles a lot of immigrant kids have during their life time, Of course, Akin's struggle and his definitions will affect the future of what is left from humanity and the future of the trade.

Racism is also a constant subject so far in this trilogy; while Dawn dealt a bit more with sexism, in this case I felt this point was left aside, but not ignored. The rage against Lillith, the prejudices against her and whatever might come through her is still present, not only with those who actually met her, but her "legend" has grown, to a point that there is even talk of her being possessed. That said most of the women present in the rebel camps are delegated to secondary roles all the time and most of the men turn to "macho" behavior.

Seeing Akin grow, not only physically but in his mind was so interesting. The approach of him being a teenager in both communities puts him in multiple situations where he was feeling frustrated and has to learn not only to be an adult but to express as one and be able to share and convince his piers of the changes he is bringing.

I think that doing this trilogy in audio has given me the opportunity to identify the different Oankalis better and to sort of pin point their personalities; I've read several reviews mentioning that it is hard to differentiate between them.

From a biologist point of view I think the concept of trade, the way the Oankali see it, is fascinating. The concept is mostly explained on the first book, but is always present during Adulthood Rites.

I would totally recommend this series so far to anyone who loves SciFi and society construction. 

 

The One (The Selection #3) by Kiera Cass

First impression

After I finish the second book in this series I thought maybe the series could end on a good note (it was supposed to be a trilogy, but now I learnt there is a new one coming) so I decided to read the third one. Oh boy was I disappointed! America goes back to being helpless and most all the stuff that happened was predictable. It felt like a long teenager fight with some tiny unexpected moments here and there.

Final thoughts

First a rant: 2 more books? Seriously? Why? Well, no I know why but still...ugh

Now for the review. The reason why I gave an extra star to the second book was because America was finally showing some guts, seemed like she was going to stop being the "My life depends on a boy" face and more of "well I've learned some serious stuff about the country, maybe there are bigger things than having a boyfriend" but then this book is her fighting with Maxon over and over. "Oh I love him, oh maybe not, oh actually yes, but I won't say it first"

There are a couple of moments related to the rebels during most of the book, but this seems to be pushed back more than a notch , which saddens me because giving an actual development to the political side of the story was what, for me, would've set it apart from the ton of similar stories being published.

There were 2 things I didn't see coming, and while I will not discuss them at length to avoid spoilers I will tell you that for me were charged with forced sadness and it didn't add much to the story. While some may argue that the first sad event does bring something extra to the background I would counter that there was no need for the sad part.

Anyway, that's it for me with this series. I have one of the novellas that I got for free through Kobo, but I don't think I will read it anytime soon.

 

Mini review: The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #3)

First impression

I think I am reaching a plateau with Percy here. The books are entertaining but not overwhelmingly so. I keep having a good time with the mythology references. In this one we get to know Artemis and her hunters, as well as some new enemies for the Olympians.

Final thoughts

As we advance in the series, it would seem that Riordan is starting to give more and more mythology to the audience, which is great if you are like me, but I haven't engaged fully yet. I think one of the issues I have is that, since I have read my fair amount of mythology, when he is giving clues I end up knowing what the surprise is going to be way earlier than expected and so I get bored a bit. That said, I am not an expert on the matter, so I am hoping that if I continue reading the series I will be able to recognize less things and enjoy their introduction a bit more.

Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer

First impressions

When I first started this series I fell in love with the retelling of Cinderella, and every single new installment of the series has been full of beautiful usage of a known story but making it completely new. This was not an exception.

Final thoughts

At the end of Scarlet we were introduced very briefly to a new character, Cress a lunar who contacted Cinder in order to help her save Kai. She is also the best option Cinder, Scarlet Wolf and Captain Thorne have to stop Queen Levana from marrying Kai and taking over the Commonwealth.

But off course is not that easy, they will have to try and rescue her from the satellite while trying to not get caught by both Earthen and Lunar authorities. The rescue will not end up well and the group will be split in different directions while showing us what is happening in several places on Earth and on the Lunar court.

As the HP series, these books are getting bigger and luckily just as HP is not just empty extra content. I love the story in itself and all the girls, while remaining reminiscent of their inspiration original characters (Cinderella, Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel) are not just ladies in distress waiting for prince charming to come. Sure, this point is arguable in Cress's case, but you have to consider that she has been clustered for ages and even though she might be bit awe stricken she fends pretty well for someone with no prior experience on Earth. I also like Iko, she is a bubble gum type android, but she is adorable and I think she doesn't get enough credit for how awesome she is.

There were a bit of twists, nothing that had me saying oh wow, but at the same time, they didn't felt boringly predictable either. The hints to the upcoming book left me really wanting to continue reading but I will have to wait for 2015. This is the problem when reading a series that is not completely finished!

As always Marissa Meyer's rhythm takes you into the story smoothly so you don't realize you've spent hours curled in your papasan until someone asks you if you are not hungry (yes, I was) or tired (nope, not really). In the mean time I will read Glitches, the prequel Novella.

The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2) by Rick Riordan

First impressions

I feel conflicted about continuing this series. As I mentioned on my review for the Lighting Thief, I liekd all the mythology references but I am not crazy about Percy. I think in part is due to the voice given to him in the audio, he sounds way to cocky for a 13 year old. But once again this book has very good usage of Greek mythological creatures and I am liking Annabeth more and more.

Final thoughts

So far this series has been way too predictable.  I could overlook, it is not the first book I read that has this issue, and I can still enjoy it, but I think because of all the raving reviews I was expecting too much from it. I think, if I continue the series I will just lower my expectations.

In this sequel Percy goes back to camp Half-Blood after a gruesome attack by monsters on his last day of school. He then learns that monsters attacks have been on the rise and that Thalia's tree is sick. In order to save it someone will have to try and recover the Golden Fleece. Except that this time the quest has been awarded to Clarisse. But you know Percy will be joining somehow or another, don't you?

I liked the addition of Tyson, he is sweet and it was nice to see his interaction with Percy. I found the whole CC spa very funny too.

It's an entertaining series, if not a great one so far. I keep thinking that I should give it a try on paper and not on audio. We will see, maybe the cocky teenager voice will bother me less when he actually becomes a teenager.

Emerald Green (Precious Stone Trilogy #3) by Kerstin Gier

First impressions

I started reading this series mostly because Audible was having a sale on first of a series books. The premise of time travelling seemed appealing and so I went for it. The first installment, Ruby Red, was good enough, I liked the fact that Gwendolyn wasn't just a boy driven character, even though it was obvious that they were going to get together and hence I went for the second one.

The second one, Sapphire Blue, was ok, but I think I fell more for Xemerus than the other characters. I did want to know what the whole mystery was, but the love part felt a bit forced, sadly enough.

So here we are, at the end of the series, and I am giving it a round and final 4, even though I was a bit disappointed at certain points.

Final thoughts

Let us start with the things I liked, both in general and in the series.

As I mentioned the premise of time travelling was appealing to me. The whole building of it around a secret society as well as the workings of the chronograph was nice additions, and I would've liked a bit more of background there. We didn't have it, the whole references to the "gene" and the need of blood for the chronograph to work are not explained, but maybe this is a better option than bad science.

The descriptions of the dresses, and hence Madame Rossini, were delightful. If you follow my blog or my reviews, you probably know that I am a sucker for period dressing. If you didn't know that...well now you do.

There were a couple of twists at the end of the series, a couple as in two major ones, at least from my point of view. I will not extend on this point since I do not want to give spoilers, but one of them was pretty obvious, and the other not so much, so I will give it a "meh" on plot twisting. Some people have complained about the ending, and it does feel like suddenly this was more than a trilogy, but then again it could just be that Gier likes her cliff-hangers, no?

Now, the things I didn't like. It is a bit sad when you like the secondary characters more than you do the primary ones, or at least it seems like a lot of energy is invested in characters you never got to care for, and this was the case for me. Give me more Leslie! More Xemerus...Gwendolyn and Gideon felt flat a lot of times and I felt like the story could've been carried almost without them.

As I mentioned their relationship suddenly happened and while this is a bit typical (not that is a good thing) when portraying teen love situations, it makes it even more "blah" since it has been overdone. But it gets point for not pushing on a love triangle.

So I gave it a 4, mostly because as predictable as it was at times, it was enjoyable, it gave me exactly what I was expecting from it, no more and just a little bit less. I would recommend to someone looking for light series with fun secondary characters.

Good job by Marisa Calin!