Review: Black Light Express (Philip Reeve)

Title: Black Light Express
Series: Railhead, Book 2
Author: Philip Reeve
Publisher: OUP Oxford (UK Edition)
Release Date: August 3, 2017
Genre: Young Adult Epic Science Fiction
Told: Third Person Omniscient, Past Tense
Content Rating: Older Teen (violence, killing)
Format Read: Paperback
Find On: Goodreads
Purchase: Azon | B&N | BookDepo | Indiebound
Summary:

There was nothing, and then there was a train. A train with two passengers: a petty thief from a dead-end town, and an android girl who could be more human than the rest of us. Join Zen and Nova as they find out what really lies beyond the end of the universe . . .

Take a ride in Philip Reeve's incredible imagination as he returns with this stellar follow-up to Railhead. Full of extraordinary beings and utterly real, complex characters, of thrills and thoughtful moments, this is a stunning step beyond the universe which will appeal to both sci-fi fans and foes alike.

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Series: This is the second book in the Railhead series and continues the story and characters of the first book. You can read my review of Book 1: Railhead here.

First book Railhead blew me away with its imaginative universe and sentient trains, so I was thrilled when I heard there would be a sequel. But while the effortlessly diverse setting continued to delight, Black Light's vast omniscient viewpoint and convoluted plot had me struggling to remain engaged and took a month to read.

Heavily story-driven, the book followed the plot instead of specific characters, opting for minds of convenience to keep up with the multi-layered adventure the book meanders through. Most of the characters were original and appealing, but after a while the plot became too political and complicated to maintain my interest despite a lot of action and twists. I almost left it unfinished within 100 pages, but since I was so close I pushed on for two more weeks to the last page - for an unfortunate melancholy end. While I will continue to praise this series as an imaginative epic sci-fi with breathtaking universe, I presently have no interest in continuing the series with the third and currently final book, Station Zero.

Scribble Rating: 

3 of 5 Scribbles

Review: Defy the Stars (Claudia Gray)

Title: Defy the Stars
Series: Constellation duology, Book 1
Author: Claudia Gray
Publisher: Little, Brown
Release Date: April 4, 2017
Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction
Told: Third Person Focused (Noemi, Abel), Present Tense
Content Rating: Teen (violence, kissing, scary situations)
Format Read: ARC (trade)
Find On: Goodreads
Purchase On: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
Summary:

She’s a soldier.

Noemi Vidal is seventeen years old and sworn to protect her planet, Genesis. She’s willing to risk anything—including her own life. To their enemies on Earth, she’s a rebel.

He’s a machine.

Abandoned in space for years, utterly alone, Abel has advanced programming that’s begun to evolve. He wants only to protect his creator, and to be free. To the people of Genesis, he’s an abomination.

Noemi and Abel are enemies in an interstellar war, forced by chance to work together as they embark on a daring journey through the stars. Their efforts would end the fighting for good, but they’re not without sacrifice. The stakes are even higher than either of them first realized, and the more time they spend together, the more they’re forced to question everything they’d been taught was true.

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In a Sentence: A teen galactic travel adventure with an occasionally disorienting writing style and predictable twists but soulful characters, surprise subplots, and an entertaining story.

This is one of those stories that I can't help but claim was written just for me. I'm a huge sci-fi nut and have been craving a "mech falls in love with human" story for a while, so when I heard Claudia Gray was working on one it immediately became a highly anticipated 2017 release. As with her previous novel, A Thousand Pieces of You, it wasn't perfect: the writing tense read loose, the character logic didn't always make sense, and most of the main twists were predictable from the start. But despite the imperfections, the travel adventure story was entertaining, most of the subplot twists and the climax came as a complete surprise, and the energy between Noemi and Abel was a pure delight as she helped him discover his humanity while he introduced her to the galaxy.

The characters were the true highlight of the book. Noemi was strong and had such a good heart, always fighting for immediate worthy causes while still conscious of her own needs and putting her world first, ready to die for it if necessary. Her selflessness was commendable and portrayed perfectly, never for a second coming off as cheap or poorly motivated. She was a truly admirable character and one of the best I've ever read. Abel, aside for a few illogical actions, was also perfectly portrayed as a machine with a soul, thinking one thing but doing or saying what his programming or later experiences informed. I delighted in his emotional progress through the book - he was just what I'd hoped for and more, and I especially loved the contrast between his thoughts and actions. Together Noemi and Abel were a dynamic duo, balancing each other as they traveled the galaxy overcoming obstacles to execute their ultimate plan. There was a semblance of a romantic relationship for them, complicated to say the least as it was between a human and a mech. But complications aside it was pleasantly slow burning and realistic and as it was not resolved in this book I look forward to its hopefully sweet conclusion in the duology's second book, Defy the Worlds, currently releasing April 2018.

Conclusion: While most of the main plot twists were predictable and the writing tense occasionally disorienting, the unpredictable subplots were entertaining and the laid-back writing style made for a relatively easy - and in the case of Abel's voice rather delightful - read. Noemi and Abel were fun and engaging characters whose relationship development I really enjoyed following, and I look forward to finishing their story in the next book!

Scribble Rating: 

4 of 5 Scribbles

Review: Railhead (Philip Reeve)

Title: Railhead
Series: standalone
Author: Philip Reeve (site)
Publisher: Switch Press
Release Date: April 1, 2016
Genre: Young Adult Epic Science Fiction
Told: Third Person Omniscient, Past Tense
Content Rating: Teen (violence, human and animal attack, train wreck)
Format Read: ARC (publisher)
Find On: Goodreads
Purchase On: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
Summary:

The Great Network is an ancient web of routes and gates, where sentient trains can take you anywhere in the galaxy in the blink of an eye. Zen Starling is a nobody. A petty thief from the filthy streets of Thunder City who aimlessly rides the rails of the Network. So when the mysterious stranger Raven offers Zen a chance to escape the squalor of the city and live the rest of his days in luxury, Zen can’t believe his luck. All he has to do is steal one small box from the Emperor’s train with the help of Nova, an android girl. But the Great Network is a hazardous mess of twists and turns, and that little box just might bring everything in this galaxy — and the next — to the end of the line. The highly anticipated novel from Carnegie-medal-winning author Philip Reeve, Railhead is a fast, immersive, and heart-pounding ride perfect for any sci-fi fan. Step aboard — the universe is waiting.

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Review copy provided by publisher for an honest review. Thank you, Switch Press!

In a Sentence: A diverse teen epic sci-fi with a choppy writing style but mind-blowing universe.

With its intriguing title and vibrant cover, this book had me scrambling for a copy at "sentient trains." While it wasn't quite what I expected, in many ways it was so much better as its highly imaginative universe and effortless diversity completely dazzled me.

Story: From the summary I expected a snatch-and-grab heist where everything naturally goes horribly wrong in a thrilling tale of close calls and triumph against the odds. Instead, it turned out to be a long con in which Zen infiltrates the royal family to steal a mysterious box at his leisure. While this made for a slower plot that got a tad bit tedious at times, the quieter story allowed for the introduction of interesting characters and exploration of exotic worlds until the heist reached its climax and, even more than anticipated, everything went as horribly wrong as it could've gone in a shocking culmination of destruction and devastation.

The heist was only the first half of the book, though. Heist concluded, the second part of the story became a complete mystery and engaging discovery read as Zen struggled to deal with the heist's fallout and because of it find a new place for himself in the universe. I don't want to say much about the second half because the discovery is half the fun, but Zen's search leads him all over the galaxy and beyond as he flees pursuers, makes unusual allies, and discovers there is more to life and the universe than anyone has ever known.

Characters: A bit of an antihero, Zen was driven mainly by self-interest until love got the better of him. Although his motivations weren't always pure and his line of reasoning didn't always make complete sense, he was a strong and intriguing character to focus the story on. But while Railhead was essentially Zen's story, it progressively broadened to become the story of the universe and how Zen's actions, however unintentional, altered the essence and structure of the galaxy. This made for an initially disorienting read as the book began mainly Third Person Singular, focusing on Zen, and then expanded into an Omniscient epic that mind-hopped across the universe, but after I accepted the POV shift it produced some interesting diversions and side-plots that expanded the amazing universe even further.

Writing: In addition to the disorienting POV shift, the writing style was rather irregular and choppy for my tastes and had a hand in some of the confusion of Zen's logic. However, the description was detailed and brought the world of the book to vivid life.

Setting: The universe was what really made Railhead for me. Set several millennia in the future and light years into space, both technology and organics had significantly evolved. While most of the tech was relatively standard futuristic fare (still intriguing, though), the K-gates and their sentient trains were unusual and fascinating, and the organics saw the ability to grow train cars and houses like plants, genetically breed and manipulate ancient creatures, and somehow spawned humanoid bug people. And then there was the sweeping diversity: the races so intermixed that humans are almost all "various shades of brown"; gay marriage commonplace even among royalty. Motorik (humanoid androids) are gender fluid and able to switch at will (which made things a little confusing for one of the characters, but Flex was still a favorite), and some of the digital-minded Guardians even created genderless or alien interface bodies to downloaded themselves into. It was all so different and advanced yet so familiar and timeworn and made for a refreshing setting I thoroughly enjoyed discovering.

Conclusion: While not quite the heist story I expected, I was blown away by the imaginative universe and effortless diversity, and the uncharted territory of the second half of the book made for an engaging discovery read. Although Zen's story wrapped up well enough, and Railhead is currently a standalone, I would definitely be interested in another book set in the Network Empire. Highly recommend for sci-fi lovers and anyone looking for a diverse read.

Scribble Rating: 

4.5 of 5 Scribbles