Artemis, by Andy Weir

Format: e-ARC, 384 pages

Publisher: Del Rey

Published: November 14, 2017

ISBN: 9780091956943

Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Sci Fi & Fantasy

Back cover blurb: Jazz Bashara is a criminal.

Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you’re not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you’ve got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.

Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of Jazz’s problems, as she learns that she’s stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself – and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even more unlikely than the first.

My review: Confession: I never read The Martian, I only saw the film, but I enjoyed that very much. This wasn’t as much fun and I wasn’t as invested in Jazz as a character to care what happened to her. I actually think Jazz sounded more like a man at times than a Saudi Arabian woman, especially the comment about peeing in the shower. The whole moonbase thing is a great concept, and of course there is science-y stuff for Africa here – lol, the moon is even run by Kenya because of its prime launch position on Earth’s equator – but I can’t say I was gripped.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 3/5

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A Thousand Pieces of You, by Claudia Gray

Format: audiobook, 9 hours 18 minutes, narrated by Tavia Gilbert

Publisher: HarperTeen

Published: November 4, 2014

ISBN: 9780062376541

Genre: YA fiction, science fiction

Back cover blurb: Every Day meets Cloud Atlas in this heart-racing, space- and time-bending, epic new trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray.

Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention: the Firebird, which allows users to jump into parallel universes, some vastly altered from our own. But when Marguerite’s father is murdered, the killer—her parent’s handsome and enigmatic assistant Paul—escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.

Marguerite can’t let the man who destroyed her family go free, and she races after Paul through different universes, where their lives entangle in increasingly familiar ways. With each encounter she begins to question Paul’s guilt—and her own heart. Soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is more sinister than she ever could have imagined.

A Thousand Pieces of You explores a reality where we witness the countless other lives we might lead in an amazingly intricate multiverse, and ask whether, amid infinite possibilities, one love can endure.

My review: OMG, this is so good! All my favourite things are here: Swoony boys, time travel, czarist Russia, geekiness and pop culture references, and so much UST! There are a few red herrings which had me questioning my assumptions about who the baddies were, but even though I was correct in my suspicions, the thrills are still fast-paced and there’s a scene right at the end that had me on the edge of my seat. And that cover is just gorgeous. I can’t wait for the next book out later this year.

My rating: 5/5

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In the Shadow of Winter, by Lorna Gray

Format: e-ARC, 339 pages

Publisher: Harper Impulse

Published: March 12, 2015

ISBN: 9780008122720

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Back cover blurb: The Cotswolds, 1947

The relentless winter of 1947 holds post-war Britain in its deadly grip, and Eleanor Phillips rides out from her beleaguered Cotswold farm to rescue a stranger lost in the storm. But the near-dead man is no stranger and when she recognises Matthew Croft, the old ties of a failed romance tug deeply. Her sweetheart has returned from the war…

Suspicion, the police and the panicked flight of a desperate man beat a path to her door. And with a wanted man hidden in her home and stealing back into her heart, Eleanor must be on her guard—for the net is closing in on them both and enemies are all around…

My review: This gets off to a very slow start, probably because having a taciturn hero means there is hardly any dialogue in the first quarter to advance and break up the narrative. However, once the mystery of his flight is revealed, the plot becomes more interesting and the last quarter is action-packed.

Nevertheless, I’m not sure I connected with these characters as much as I should have. Eleanor is plucky and good with horses, but I don’t feel like I know much about her, and I know even less about Matthew. They drink a lot of tea. He healed very quickly from his injuries. But I like them. Freddy is also a great secondary character.

Some of the word choices were wrong, but as this was an ARC I’m hoping those errors will have been corrected for the final published version. The cover is very pretty, but like the blurb it’s a bit misleading about the plot.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 3/5

 

 

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