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A.J. Bass's Paige's Story was recommended to me by a friend of the author. Then Robin read it and also recommended it highly.
For a book about a girl making new friends after moving to a new place, it's quite a fun read. (Remember, I'm the person who reviewed the first "Iron Man" movie as being largely about a guy getting dressed.)
An English teacher once explained that even great books are not great in every way; they can become classic even if they are great in only one of these areas: plot, character, mood, or a fourth one I no longer remember (theme?). This one excels in character, my favorite. I like or love all the characters but one and let's just say it's hard to stay lovable after certain things happen to you. I especially enjoyed the dialog. There's lots of sarcastic humor that I would enjoy running to Robin and reading aloud.
In fact, a lot of the writing is real-aloud quality, my highest compliment. Here's the first paragraph: "Harold Kushing loved the sound of his alarm clock. No, it wasn't some kind of ultra-soothing, new age thing made of Himalayan salt crystals. It didn't play tones that woke him up at just the right pace. It wasn't even a radio or cell phone set to his favorite station or ring tone. It was just a regular, beeping, alarm clock--the kind that graced discount store shelves for decades and rocketed its owners away like a pissed off drill sergeant." So why did he love that sound so much? I will leave you in suspense. Mwahaha!
But the world is also interesting. (Sentient robots!) And depressing. (Fear of and prejudice against sentient robots.) The big picture is not super realistic--it's set decades from now but is only different in a few ways. And I kind of wonder what's going on in countries outside what is now called the US. But that doesn't matter; I just pretend it's a parallel universe with sentient robots.
The plot has a mystery, or set of interconnected mysteries, that get discovered and then solved. Mysteries like: Whatever happened to that one scientist? Where did this illegal robot come from? Why did that one robot go berserk? Who is this "God" guy, and what does he want?
I find myself most intrigued by a robot who doesn't interact much with humans (Fer). It could be because I'm a weirdo--reading the Lord Peter Wimsy books, I'm most interested in his servant (Bunter). But it's also partly because I recently saw the movie "The Girl with All the Gifts." In it, a very smart girl and her classmates are all under restraint at all times. Eventually we learn why. Meanwhile, the zombie situation is getting worse, and a small group makes a quick getaway and has to find food and water and a better place to live.
It's hard to write more without getting all spoilery (um, very good acting!), but it taught me, very powerfully, how human-centric I am. In fact, it changed me into a less human-centric person. And so now I'm wondering what would the robots do if they weren't trying to fit in with humans? What would they want their world to be like? This is the first book in a three-part series--I don't expect that to be addressed, but I'm looking forward to seeing what will get addressed.
In sum, it's fun, scary, and thought-provoking.
* Violence - There is violence, but it's not glorified, though it's not cartoon violence, either.
* Language - There is a fair amount of profanity, but most of it's over-the-top silly.
* Nudity - There is one discussion of genitalia, but it's educational.
* Cliff-hanger - Everyone's safe for now, so the book ends at a good stopping place.
* Self-published - I know. But I only saw a couple of edits I would make--the author did hire editors and a cover designer, and the book is definitely good enough to be acceptable to a publishing company. The first self-published book I read was a horror, but it seems that self-publishing is the smart way to go these days.
Sadly for us, this book was just published last month, so there will be a long wait for the next one. On the other hand, the Kindle version is super cheap on Amazon right now, so Deb-Bob says, "Check it out!"
(As usual, there may be spoilers in the comments.)
For a book about a girl making new friends after moving to a new place, it's quite a fun read. (Remember, I'm the person who reviewed the first "Iron Man" movie as being largely about a guy getting dressed.)
An English teacher once explained that even great books are not great in every way; they can become classic even if they are great in only one of these areas: plot, character, mood, or a fourth one I no longer remember (theme?). This one excels in character, my favorite. I like or love all the characters but one and let's just say it's hard to stay lovable after certain things happen to you. I especially enjoyed the dialog. There's lots of sarcastic humor that I would enjoy running to Robin and reading aloud.
In fact, a lot of the writing is real-aloud quality, my highest compliment. Here's the first paragraph: "Harold Kushing loved the sound of his alarm clock. No, it wasn't some kind of ultra-soothing, new age thing made of Himalayan salt crystals. It didn't play tones that woke him up at just the right pace. It wasn't even a radio or cell phone set to his favorite station or ring tone. It was just a regular, beeping, alarm clock--the kind that graced discount store shelves for decades and rocketed its owners away like a pissed off drill sergeant." So why did he love that sound so much? I will leave you in suspense. Mwahaha!
But the world is also interesting. (Sentient robots!) And depressing. (Fear of and prejudice against sentient robots.) The big picture is not super realistic--it's set decades from now but is only different in a few ways. And I kind of wonder what's going on in countries outside what is now called the US. But that doesn't matter; I just pretend it's a parallel universe with sentient robots.
The plot has a mystery, or set of interconnected mysteries, that get discovered and then solved. Mysteries like: Whatever happened to that one scientist? Where did this illegal robot come from? Why did that one robot go berserk? Who is this "God" guy, and what does he want?
I find myself most intrigued by a robot who doesn't interact much with humans (Fer). It could be because I'm a weirdo--reading the Lord Peter Wimsy books, I'm most interested in his servant (Bunter). But it's also partly because I recently saw the movie "The Girl with All the Gifts." In it, a very smart girl and her classmates are all under restraint at all times. Eventually we learn why. Meanwhile, the zombie situation is getting worse, and a small group makes a quick getaway and has to find food and water and a better place to live.
It's hard to write more without getting all spoilery (um, very good acting!), but it taught me, very powerfully, how human-centric I am. In fact, it changed me into a less human-centric person. And so now I'm wondering what would the robots do if they weren't trying to fit in with humans? What would they want their world to be like? This is the first book in a three-part series--I don't expect that to be addressed, but I'm looking forward to seeing what will get addressed.
In sum, it's fun, scary, and thought-provoking.
* Violence - There is violence, but it's not glorified, though it's not cartoon violence, either.
* Language - There is a fair amount of profanity, but most of it's over-the-top silly.
* Nudity - There is one discussion of genitalia, but it's educational.
* Cliff-hanger - Everyone's safe for now, so the book ends at a good stopping place.
* Self-published - I know. But I only saw a couple of edits I would make--the author did hire editors and a cover designer, and the book is definitely good enough to be acceptable to a publishing company. The first self-published book I read was a horror, but it seems that self-publishing is the smart way to go these days.
Sadly for us, this book was just published last month, so there will be a long wait for the next one. On the other hand, the Kindle version is super cheap on Amazon right now, so Deb-Bob says, "Check it out!"
(As usual, there may be spoilers in the comments.)