Ringworld by Larry Niven

Louis Wu has seen it all. Jaded, bored with a world that has no more to offer him, he spends his two hundredth birthday reminiscing about his youth, the good old days when caprice ruled his actions and the world seemed endless in its capacity for excitement. The spark of adventure is still inside him, but Earth, shrunken and standardized by the advent of teleportation, is no longer a place of infinite variety and wonder.

Enter Nessus. A member of the “puppeteers,” an alien race famed for its cowardice, Nessus’s fellows condemn him as insane because of his bravery. Yet they find him useful as an explorer, visiting planets and stars no “sane” puppeteer would dare approach. For his current expedition, he requires companions. Louis immediately signs on to Nessus’s mission, with an excitement fueled by xenophilia and a youthful spirit. Along with two other individuals- Teela Brown, a young human woman, and Speaker-to-Animals, a fearsome alien feline- they set off to investigate the Ringworld, a massive alien artifact shrouded in mystery.

I don’t often use the phrase “thrill ride,” but there’s no other way to describe this book. The numerous plot twists and turns left me guessing every step of the way, and at several points I was left simply marveling at the author’s sheer cleverness. The characters and setting were just as richly detailed and complex as the plot, woven together into a compelling novel with a surprise ending no one could have predicted. Fantastical sci-fi concepts enrich the storyline and are made believable by the smart, polished writing. Creepy insights into what humanity’s future could look like are pure genius (and also really unsettling).

Okay, so this book isn’t exactly new, or YA, but the setting is futuristic and the book has as much action, adventure, and suspense as any novel written for teens. In short, it’s made of awesome. If this book has a downside, it’s that made-up words and new concepts are often introduced with no explanation, and the explanation comes later. A slight flaw, compared to the rest of the book. Five high-tech flashlight lasers- er, daggers.






Futuristically yours,

Tay

Gossip of the Starlings by Nina de Gramont

Gossip of the Starlings, by Nina de Gramont, is a boarding school story with a twist. Catherine arrives at Esther Percy School for Girls, having been forced from her old (coed) school for boy-related reasons. The school seems rigid, constraining, lonely, until Sky Butterfield chooses Catherine as her friend. Beautiful, eloquent, daring, and brilliant, Skye, the Senator’s daughter, is brimming with life and vim. She transforms Catherine’s life into a whirl of hazy, weed-brightened nights and days of rosy adventures merely rimmed by classes.

Skye is passionate and vibrant, but her desperate thirst for dare and danger becomes concerning for Catherine. Skye has a tragic soul and seems to believe that she is indestructible—a belief she tests more and more frantically, engaging in increasingly dangerous adventures. Skye defies convention, takes what she wants, lives hungrily yet can never be satisfied. She is a tightrope walker, an enchanted seductress, an angel. She is a presence in both of the worlds she inhabits—the world of Esther Percy and the world of my mind. It is tough to say where she is more at home.

Gossip of the Starlings was fantastic. The writing was pure poetry: smooth, eloquent, daintily descriptive without ever being too thick. The characters were painted gloriously, the plot and the allusions drawn were constantly keeping me interested. The following is just a snippet from the long, intricate work of art Gramont has created.

“Now, when I see teenage girls laughing. When I see them loosed on a summer evening – their limbs tanned and gossamer, their imagined freedom radiating like nuclear light – I can’t help but fast forward two decades or more. I know the curve of their bones has already made an imperceptible bow to gravity. I see the decay in slow motion, even or especially through those stunning and immortal years.”

Complemented by such gems of observations, small moments make up much of the novel. They are painted to such rich perfection that after months I recall them still. The image of a blood promise in a night-dark dorm room stands in my mind bright and vivid—scarlet blood, moonlit curls, tender smiles and flushed cheeks as the girls teeter on the edge of destruction; the first in many daring adventures that take them inches from death, the only way, they believe, to truly experience life.

I loved Skye’s seduction, the way even the reader was drawn to her. I could picture her lush beauty, her tender flawless skin, the dare and the dreams in her eyes. The way she could dance logical circles around any opponent, dangle her ripe sexuality at a whim, manipulating the world into her dark and dizzy playground.

After finishing Gossip of the Starlings, I began to search for other hazy books about poetry and death and life and living on the cusp of womanhood. The only other one I found was the Virgin Suicides (by Jeffrey Eugenides), which was excellent but lacking the strong plot of Gossip of the Starlings. Any suggestions?

Anyway, as if you couldn’t guess—Gossip of the Starlings earns a glowing five daggers.

Off embracing my fleeting youth but always, unalterably yours,

Briar

Intuition by Allegra Goodman

In the Philpott Institute, several young postdocs research a possible cure for cancer. Sandy Glass and Marion Mendelssohn run the lab. In the beginning of the novel, Glass and Mendelssohn tell Cliff Bannaker, one of the postdocs, to discontinue his work on the RSV-7 virus. They told him once before, but he adamantly believes his virus is going to change cancer cells into normal cells. Cliff refuses to listen and continues working on the virus. Glass and Mendelssohn are forced to consider firing Cliff, but the two of them disagree.

Unexpectedly, Cliff notices improvement in three of his lab mice. The injected RSV-7 virus has shrunk their tumors! Glass and Mendelssohn allow Cliff to continue his work, and the results are incredible. In over half of the mice injected with RSV-7, the tumors have shrunk and disappeared. The virus targeted cancerous cells, but left normal cells unharmed. Practically overnight, Cliff becomes the star of the lab. Everyone is put to work on replicating his experiment. Glass and Mendelssohn work towards publishing an article in Nature and using Cliff's discovery to elicit more funding.

All goes well until Robin, Cliff's girlfriend, gets jealous. She worked at Philpott longer and thinks his fortune is unfair. Since everyone must work on Cliff's project, she is forced to give up her bone marrow project. This begins a chain reaction, eventually bringing the validity of Cliff's results into question. Robin trusts her intuition that Cliff's results are too good to be true, and she goes to great lengths in search of the truth.

Although this is the longest plot summary I've ever given, the wealth of this novel is not in its plot, but in its characters. Not to imply the plot is boring, its not. The book is riveting, fascinating, and hard to put down. However, the character development is simply phenomenal! The book shifts from one character's mind to another, giving deep insights into the thoughts of each character. It often presents different perspectives on a character's actions. This blurs the line between good and evil. Each character's thoughts alters the reader's opinion of the other characters. It makes for a very thrilling read. Dramatic twists and eureka moments occur often.

Along similar lines, the driving force of the plot is the conflicts between characters, rather than the traditional sequence of events. Obviously, the characters feelings lead to actions, which in turn lead to reactions and the process repeats. However, the conflict seems to warp constantly, making the book more exciting. Ever heard a story where a hero must fight a villain throughout the story, ultimately triumphing? This story is the polar opposite. It is not a fight between two people, but a dynamic, ever-changing conflict, involving multiple characters. Elegantly written, the reading experience is simply wonderful. The only downside, if it can even qualify as a downside, there are lots of fancy words. Keep a dictionary handy.

I give Intuition by Allegra Goodman the coveted 5 out of 5 daggers.

Yours intuitively,
Gabriel Gethin

English Passengers by Matthew Kneale

Set in the mid-19th century, when British imperialism was at its pinnacle and explorers were mapping the last uncharted corners of the globe, English Passengers spins a delicious yarn of intrigue, torment, and reckless lawbreaking on the high seas and within the plains and forests of Tasmania. It is crewed by a fascinatingly diverse cast of characters, including a likable yet eccentric rum-smuggling captain by the name of Illiam Quillian Kewley, a motley band of seafaring Manxmen, an unlikely trio of obnoxious Brits, and a tormented tribe of indigenous Tasmanians.

Captain Kewley and the crew of his smuggling ship Sincerity are expecting a brief, profitable maiden voyage. But after enduring one misfortune after another, due to “prying British Customs men,” they are forced to take on passengers for charter to Tasmania. Reverend Wilson, Dr. Potter, and Timothy Renshaw promptly proceed to make life extremely difficult for each other and for the ship’s crew, resulting in a brilliantly written comedy of errors populated by the most outrageous fools ever to set foot on a ship.

But awaiting the travelers in Tasmania is something utterly unexpected. Interspersed with the humorous antics of the travelers is the heartwrenching narrative of Peevay, the son of a Tasmanian native and a British sailor, who describes with fierce emotion the torments his people have endured from British colonizers. The book’s two main subplots gradually become intertwined, finally merging near the end and drawing the reader into the novel’s uniquely satisfying conclusion.

Though I normally don’t like historical fiction as much as other types of literature, I enjoyed and deeply appreciated this book. It made me laugh out loud with its sidesplittingly hilarious wit, it brought tears to my eyes with its raw descriptions of horrors inflicted by men, all while managing to deliver a time-honored message of tolerance and peace without being tired or clichéd. The writing successfully captures the unique personality and regional dialect of each character while still reflecting the author’s eloquent voice and creating a thoughtful, polished piece.

The remarkable thing about English Passengers is how it manages to be so many things at once. This novel is a window into a time long past, a thrillingly adventurous romp, a first-rate comedy and a tale of real-world strife, all rolled into one. I award it five daggers without hesitation.

Yours,
Tay

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Clay Jenson was hit pretty hard by the death of Hannah Baker, the suicide of Hannah Baker. They worked together, they had class together, but the real reason he was hurting was because he had always liked her but had been too afraid to do anything about it. When a shoebox-sized package arrives at Clay's front door, he has no idea what he is about to get himself into. The package contains seven audiotapes, each tape has a dark blue number painted in the upper right-hand corner. The tapes are numbered 1 to 13. As he begins listening to the first tape, Clay hears Hannah Baker's voice telling him that she made these thirteen tapes about thirteen different people and if you're on the tapes, you are somehow responsible for her death, her suicide. Once you finish listening to the tapes, you are supposed to pass them on to the next person on the list. If you don't, she made a second set of tapes, which she threatens will be released to everyone if the chain is broken. Clay definitely does not want to be a part of this, but he feels compelled to know what he did to make her want to kill herself. So the journey begins, Clay follows her story all around town, tape by tape. What he discovers will change him and his view of the people around him forever.

Make sure you have ample time to read this book before you pick it up because once the tapes start, you can't stop. It was painful to put this book down. Every fiber in my soul wanted to continue reading to find out what made poor Hannah kill herself. Jay Asher does an excellent job of making the reader sympathize with Clay. Every feeling of confusion, of guilt, or of sorrow that Clay experiences is not only felt by Clay. The reader can not help but feel it too. I cried when Clay did and when Clay was furious and wanted to throw a rock, so did I (only I threw a capped pen at a wall instead because I figured it would do less damage). Stories about death, especially suicide, bring out strong emotions in all of us, whether those emotions are grief, anger, or indifference. It's interesting to see what characters have reactions similar to our own. Are we like Clay, who regrets not trying harder to help her with a passion that burns stronger than a thousand wildfires. Or, are we like certain other characters, who just wish they could move on with their lives with out having to worry about Hannah's tapes trashing their reputations. It is enlightening to observe our reactions to the handful grievances that, unfortunately, led to Hannah's death.

All in all, this book is a thrill ride from start to finish. I don't mean like roller coaster thrills or scary movie thrills, more like intense events that make the reader want/need to continue reading. The book, unfortunately, seems to blow by in a heart beat, but it is totally worth all of our time. It is insightful, it is eloquently written, and its message will never be forgotten.

I give 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher a killer (No pun intended. Well... maybe a little pun)

5 out of 5 daggers





Questionably yours,
Gabriel Gethin