Category: Book Reviews

Book Review: A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst

personby Amy Casey
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A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck by Sophie Elmhirst

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I really respect nonfiction that is both unflinching in fidelity to the truth of its subjects’ lives, but also demonstrates a tenderness for their humanity. In A MARRIAGE AT SEA, Sophie Elmhirst creates a faithful portrait of a relationship that not only survived an ordeal of incomprehensible danger, but which was built around it. The survival story itself is riveting, but I also appreciate how the book ponders the unique love between these two flawed but fearless people who craved escape more than anything and found it in each other.



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Book Review: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte

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The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World by Steve Brusatte

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Steve Brusatte’s THE RISE AND FALL OF THE DINOSAURS is an exciting, addictive read. When you’re someone with an interest in dinosaurs, it’s easy to dismiss any dino-related content as “stuff I already know,” but this survey of recent dinosaur science, combined with Brusatte’s personal behind-the-scenes backstories of the scientists and stakes involved, holds many surprises. It’s amazing that a field devoted to understanding the long-dead creatures of the world can still feel so fresh. An enjoyable, toothy read for all of us who are enthusiastic fans of the Jurassic Park franchise, real-life paleontology, or (in my case) both.



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Book Review: Written on the Dark by Guy Gavriel Kay

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Written on the Dark by Guy Gavriel Kay

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


It is always such a pleasure to read Guy Gavriel Kay. He does this magic trick in all his writing, in contextualizing well-known footnotes of history within a narrative style that uses the smaller moments of being alive as the palette for painting characters. And he so clearly loves these characters. Kay’s voice is distinct, and I think that might be his signature at heart-even in a literary landscape where it’s not always considered cool to do so, he does love his characters, and the world, despite all the things it does and has been doing for all these centuries. Kay’s generous humor, his romance, and his optimism are all on unabashed display in WRITTEN ON THE DARK, which I found deeply enjoyable and more than that… also quite fun.



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Book Review: The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuin

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The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Ursula is beyond time, and will keep teaching us indefinitely, it seems.

THE LATHE OF HEAVEN is spooky and superb, an exploration of human ethics and fault, a playful but nightmarish interrogation of the power of the unconscious mind to shape our thoughts, our plans, and therefore the world. It will have you looking around at your reality, disoriented and asking “Who dreamed this one? Was it the best they could do?”



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Book Review: In by Will McPhail

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In. by Will McPhail

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


IN by Will McPhail came up and punched me directly in the heart. Never met a waterslide metaphor I didn’t like, and this story starts there and stays slippery all the way down. Hilarious, poignant, and taking turns with despair and euphoria, McPhail serves his sarcasm with a side of earnesty. Visual argument using the graphic novel medium to the fullest. Also, materiality note: the size of this book is absolutely perfect.



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Book Review: Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

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Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


WILD DARK SHORE by Charlotte McConaghy kept me up late reading, lost in its churning waves. Tender character studies and a tense, gratifying plot play out on a wilderness stage, all set to the ticking time bomb of our warming world. I deeply felt the pulse of this book, with its seals and kelp, tears and blood, whales and albatrosses. We can’t save it all, but some things we can. Some wounds can’t be repaired, but some can. Some things die. Some things live. Some voices we never stop hearing.



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Book Review: The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

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The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A transportative fable (and bonus short story!) from a magical mind. Amal El-Mohtar’s novelette THE RIVER HAS ROOTS reads like something both from the past and the future, where fairy realms are taken as one of life’s facts and the physical forms people take are up for grabs, depending on which side of the fae boundary they happen to be on. Plus, it acknowledges the deep power of willow trees, something that anyone who has gone behind a willow’s curtained branches, especially as a child, can attest to. A folktale for any era, this book is as comforting as a dog-eared old fairy tale, read aloud to wide-eyed listeners learning of dangerous promises and healing spells for the very first time.

Also, the short story at the end was so fantastic! I am eager for El-Mohtar’s next collection!



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Book Review: We Are Dreams in the Eternal Machine by Deni Ellis Béchard

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We Are Dreams in the Eternal Machine by Deni Ellis Béchard

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


WE ARE DREAMS IN THE ETERNAL MACHINE by Deni Ellis Béchard is a grieving. It’s a labyrinth, it’s a lullaby, it’s a night terror. The way this novel looks at the explosive potential of technological innovation, political violence, censorship, and human ingenuity is a lasting, stalking presence. I love the way this book asks what we as human beings might one day build, break, or think we deserve, and what the thing we built might decide to do instead. Left me uneasy, but in awe.



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Book Review: From the Wreck by Jane Rawson

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From the Wreck by Jane Rawson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book was insane. Fabulism meets historical fiction meets generational drama/trauma meets cultural commentary meets well-meaning alien life forms who just kind of accidentally muck things up big time. Fascinating!



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Book Review: Blob – A Love Story by Maggie Su

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Blob: A Love Story by Maggie Su

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


BLOB: A LOVE STORY is a gelatinous and generous debut from Maggie Su. The fantastical premise–what if you could mold a sentient blob into the ideal partner?–is grounded by the nightmare of being in one’s moorless early twenties. The protagonist’s life is a study of despair. Humor pervades the unraveling in a way that cuts through to confront the reader, daring us to ask if hitting rock bottom can or should be laughed away, asking us to consider if our vices and hurts can ever be evicted from the childhoods where they were formed. Within a fever-dream of a plot, Su raises interesting questions about cruelty, autonomy, bodies, and goodness.



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