Sequoia Nagamatsu: How High We Go in the Dark

 Hi everyone

This is my review for Sequoia Nagamatsu's How High We Go in the Dark. I got my copy from Bol.com and it has this gorgeous cover that totally sucked me in when I saw it online. And then I read the blurb and the book was instantly added to my cart.

"Dr. Cliff Miyashiro arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue his recently deceased daughter's research, only to discover a virus, newly unearthed from melting permafrost. The plague unleashed reshapes life on earth for generations. Yet even while struggling to counter this destructive force, humanity stubbornly persists in myriad moving and ever inventive ways.
Among those adjusting to this new normal are an aspiring comedian, employed by a theme park designed for terminally ill children, who falls in love with a mother trying desperately to keep her son alive; a scientist who, having failed to save his own son from the plague, gets a second chance at fatherhood when one of his test subjects-a pig-develops human speech; a man who, after recovering from his own coma, plans a block party for his neighbours who have also woken up to find that they alone have survived their families; and a widowed painter and her teenaged granddaughter who must set off on cosmic quest to locate a new home planet.
From funerary skyscrapers to hotels for the dead, How High We Go in the Dark follows a cast of intricately linked characters spanning hundreds of years as humanity endeavours to restore the delicate balance of the world. This is a story of unshakable hope that crosses literary lines to give us a world rebuilding itself through an endless capacity for love, resilience and reinvention. Wonderful and disquieting, dreamlike and all too possible."

I loved this book.

How High We Go in the Dark is a collection of interlinked stories centered around a plague and how the world and specific people tried to cope with it. It’s focused on the people and their lives; not on action, war, or crime. It’s thoughtful, hopeful, bleak, harrowing, and tender.

The book is a slow read. The prose is beautiful and elegant, and the story flows easily in a dreamy, meditative way. Because of this (and the heaviness of the stories) I couldn’t read it for two hours at a time. I had to take pauses to digest what I had read, to ponder over the characters and their stories.
And that’s a sign I love a book.

If you’re looking for a book that makes you think, feel, and reflect, How High We Go in the Dark is perfect. It’s not just a story about a plague; it’s a story about humanity, resilience, and hope.

Have you read How High We Go in the Dark? Did you love it as much as I did, or did you have a different experience? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Happy reading!
Helena

Richard K. Morgan: Altered Carbon

 Hi everyone

 I've been hearing a lot about Richard K. Morgan's Altered Carbon so I wanted the find out what the buzz is about. This is the first book in the Takeshi Kovacs series. I read this on my e-reader.

"In the twenty-fifth century, humankind has spread throughout the galaxy, monitored by the watchful eye of the U.N. While divisions in race, religion, and class still exist, advances in technology have redefined life itself. Now, assuming one can afford the expensive procedure, a person’s consciousness can be stored in a cortical stack at the base of the brain and easily downloaded into a new body (or “sleeve”) making death nothing more than a minor blip on a screen.
Ex-U.N. envoy Takeshi Kovacs has been killed before, but his last death was particularly painful. Dispatched one hundred eighty light-years from home, re-sleeved into a body in Bay City (formerly San Francisco, now with a rusted, dilapidated Golden Gate Bridge), Kovacs is thrown into the dark heart of a shady, far-reaching conspiracy that is vicious even by the standards of a society that treats “existence” as something that can be bought and sold. For Kovacs, the shell that blew a hole in his chest was only the beginning. . . ."

This was okay.
The premise was interesting; the idea of saving your consciousness and then downloading it into a different body has great potential. But the book turned out to be a rather generic detective story with quite a few side things going on.
Honestly, I really didn’t care for any of it; the story, the characters, or the world. The writing wasn’t bad, and I can see why people like it: lots of action, a stern action-hero protagonist, and detective work. It’s just not my thing, it didn't keep my attention.

Altered Carbon is a solid sci-fi detective novel, but it didn’t grab me. If you enjoy cyberpunk, heroic detectives, and high-stakes action, you’ll likely enjoy it more than I did.

Have you read Altered Carbon? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Happy reading
Helena

N. K. Jemisin: The Killing Moon

 Hi everyone

Well, this book took me a long time to finish reading. I loved N. K. Jemisin's The Broken Earth series so I was very hopeful for The Killing Moon but it really fell short.
The Killing Moon is the first book in the Dreamblood duology. I got my copy from Bol.com. 

"In the ancient city-state of Gujaareh, peace is the only law. Upon its rooftops and among the shadows of its cobbled streets wait the Gatherers - the keepers of this peace. Priests of the dream-goddess, their duty is to harvest the magic of the sleeping mind and use it to heal, soothe...and kill those judged corrupt.
But when a conspiracy blooms within Gujaareh's great temple, the Gatherer Ehiru must question everything he knows. Someone, or something, is murdering innocent dreamers in the goddess's name, and Ehiru must now protect the woman he was sent to kill - or watch the city be devoured by war and forbidden magic."

The story was sooo slow. And not because there was amazing worldbuilding or because the characters had wonderful depth. I still had a lot of questions about the magic and the world that were left unanswered. The characters stayed very much the same; I felt like they didn’t grow or develop much past the start of the novel. And there wasn’t much depth to them to begin with.

Because I loved The Broken Earth series so much, I will try something else by N. K. Jemisin, but it will not be the second book in this duology.

Have you read The Killing Moon? Did you enjoy it more than I did, or did you feel the same way? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Happy reading
Helena

Lucy Holland: Sistersong

 Hi everyone

I just finished Sistersong by Lucy Holland. The book has a gorgeous cover but I read it on my e-reader.
It's only 360 pages but it felt way longer.

"Inspired by the dark folk ballad “The Two Sisters”, interweaving the perspective of a third sibling that history forgot, Sistersong is a rich and lyrical tale in the tradition of Circe and The Bear and the Nightingale—the story of three daughters of a pagan king who each have their own magical gift, and their own price to pay, when war comes to their land.
In the ancient kingdom of Dumnonia, there is old magic to be found in the whisper of the wind, the roots of the trees, the curl of the grass. King Cador knew this once, but now the land has turned from him, calling instead to his three daughters. Riva can cure others, but can’t seem to heal her own deep scars. Keyne battles to be seen for who she truly is—the king’s son. And Sinne dreams of seeing the world, of finding love and adventure.
All three fear a life of confinement within the walls of the hold, their people’s last bastion of strength against the invading Saxons. However, change comes on the day ash falls from the sky. It brings with it Myrdhin, meddler and magician. And Tristan, a warrior whose secrets will tear them apart.
Riva, Keyne and Sinne—three sisters entangled in a web of treachery and heartbreak, who must fight to forge their own paths.
Their story will shape the destiny of Britain."

The writing was okay, a bit simple though not overly so. But the language is too contemporary for the setting. The dialogue and characters are all written in modern-day English, with modern ideas that don’t fit in this historical setting. I’m not sure religion and tolerance were so deeply questioned or accepted back then.
My main problems were the convenience of the magic and the characters. The workings of the magic and the timing were too perfect a fit for the story. When it works or doesn’t, who can do what; it all felt way too convenient to fit what’s going on and where Holland wants the story to go.

Now, about the characters: All three sisters read like teenagers, especially the drama between them and the romantic aspects all three have. The mother and father have no depth, neither do the priest and the magician. Everyone is very one-sided.
As important, in my opinion, Keyne should have stayed a woman and become the strong, confident, independent warrior she really is. Or she should have come into her own as a man but not a warrior. To combine them both made it too much of a stereotype, wherein the man is the fighter and leader and the woman stays meek. As if she can only be a warrior if she’s a man. This really took the book down for me.

I wouldn’t recommend reading this.

Have you read Sistersong? Did you enjoy it more than I did, or did you feel the same way? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Happy reading
Helena

Yuval Noah Harari: Sapiens

 Hi everyone

This is my review for Yuval Noah Harari's book Sapiens. I read my husband's copy. 

"100,000 years ago, at least six human species inhabited the earth. Today there is just one. Us. Homo sapiens.
How did our species succeed in the battle for dominance? Why did our foraging ancestors come together to create cities and kingdoms? How did we come to believe in gods, nations and human rights; to trust money, books and laws; and to be enslaved by bureaucracy, timetables and consumerism? And what will our world be like in the millennia to come?
In Sapiens, Dr Yuval Noah Harari spans the whole of human history, from the very first humans to walk the earth to the radical – and sometimes devastating – breakthroughs of the Cognitive, Agricultural and Scientific Revolutions. Drawing on insights from biology, anthropology, palaeontology and economics, he explores how the currents of history have shaped our human societies, the animals and plants around us, and even our personalities. Have we become happier as history has unfolded? Can we ever free our behaviour from the heritage of our ancestors? And what, if anything, can we do to influence the course of the centuries to come?
Bold, wide-ranging and provocative, Sapiens challenges everything we thought we knew about being human: our thoughts, our actions, our power ... and our future."

This was really, really interesting and fascinating. I enjoyed every second. There were so many things to think about and connections I didn’t see before. It’s incredibly engrossing.
Things I already knew were put into a new light or a different perspective, and every chapter made me think about our history and future. The book is easy to read and definitely written for non-scientists, but it’s not sensational or dramatic either. It’s unbiased, it sticks to facts, and whenever Yuval Noah Harari speculates, he states so clearly.

Sapiens is highly recommended for anyone who wants to understand humanity’s journey and reflect on where we’re headed.

Have you read Sapiens? Did it change your perspective as much as it did mine? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Happy reading!
Helena    

Stephen King: Pet Sematary

 Hi everyone

I finally read one of Stephen King's absolute classics; Pet Sematary. And what a ride it was!
I got my copy from Bol.
You can find all my Stephen King reviews here.

" The house looked right, felt right, to Dr Louis Creed. 
Rambling, old, unsmart and comfortable. A place where the family could settle; the children grow and play and explore. The rolling hills and meadows of Maine seemed a world away from the fume-choked dangers of Chicago.
Only the occasional big truck out on the two-lane highway, grinding up through the gears, hammering down the long gradients, growled out an intrusive note of threat.
But behind the house and away from the road: that was safe. Just a carefully clear path up into the woods where generations of local children have processed with the solemn innocence of the young, taking with them their dear departed pets for burial.
A sad place maybe, but safe. Surely a safe place. Not a place to seep into your dreams, to wake you, sweating with fear and foreboding... "

This was so heavy. Especially now that I have children (3 and 7 years old), it really hit me differently. The moment Gage dies and every word after chilled me to the bone. Before this scene, the book was good but not amazing. But after his death, it turns really dark and terrifying.
It’s horror, but in a psychological way. It makes you doubt yourself and question how you would react, how your sanity would fare.

The writing is perfect for this novel. It’s easy to read, atmospheric, and there’s a chill in the air from the first chapter. It’s hard to put down; but I did, and frequently, because I felt chilled, short of breath, and terribly sad.
The last 50 or so pages were absolutely mental.

Pet Sematary is not just a horror story; it’s a deeply unsettling exploration of grief, love, and the lengths we go to in desperation. It lingers with you long after you finish it.

Have you read Pet Sematary? Did it haunt you as much as it did me? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Happy reading!
Helena     

Should I start this again?

Hi everyone 

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything here, but I’ve been thinking about reviving this blog. I’ve missed sharing my thoughts on books, connecting with fellow readers, and writing about the stories that move me, frustrate me, or just entertain me.
But before I dive back in, I’d love to hear from you. I’m still a little hesitant, and I have a few questions on my mind.

What do you think?
Are blogs still something you enjoy reading? Or do you prefer shorter, faster content like social media posts or videos?
Should I continue writing in English, or would you prefer Dutch (my native language)? I’m comfortable enough with my English skills to write in English, but speaking English or filming myself is way out of my comfort zone

I’ve always loved writing about books. It helps me process my thoughts, remember what I’ve read, and connect with others who share my passion. But I also know that life gets busy, and I don’t want this to feel like a chore. If I do start again, I want it to be fun, meaningful, and sustainable.

So, what do you think? Should I give it another go? Would you read my posts? Do you have any advice or suggestions for how I could make it work? I’d love to hear your thoughts, whether you’re a long-time reader or just stumbling upon this blog for the first time.

Leave a comment, send me a message, or just let me know if you’d be excited to see more from me. Your feedback will help me decide!

Happy reading!
Helena

My Favorite Books of 2016

Hi everyone

Last year, I got asked about my favorite books of 2015 so I wanted to come up with a list of my most loved books in 2016 too.
I made it easier on myself by adding star ratings to my reviews and that’s why I made two lists for you.

Here are my all 5-star books I read in 2016.

• Terry Pratchett: The Shepherd’s Crown
• Terry Pratchett: Snuff
• Terry Pratchett: I Shall Wear Midnight
• Miles Cameron: The Red Knight
• Michel Faber: The Book of Strange New Things
• Richard Yates: The Easter Parade
• Richard Yates: Disturbing the Peace
• Becky Chambers: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
• Charles Dickens: Dombey and Son
• Rachel Joyce: The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy
• Amos Oz: Between Friends
• Daniel Keyes: Flowers for Algernon
• Emma Donoghue: Room
• Jim Butcher: White Night
• Jim Butcher: Small Favour
• Stephen King: The Long Walk
• Stephen King: The Stand
• Stephen King: The Shining
• Joe Haldeman: The Forever War
• John Wyndham: The Day of the Triffids
• J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
• J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Order of thePhoenix
• J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

And here is my top 10 of 2016 (without the rereads) in alphabetical order.

• Miles Cameron: The Red Knight
• Becky Chambers: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
• Charles Dickens: Dombey and Son
• Emma Donoghue: Room
• Michel Faber: The Book of Strange New Things
• Stephen King: The Stand
• Amos Oz: Between Friends
• Terry Pratchett: I Shall Wear Midnight
• Richard Yates: The Easter Parade
• Richard Yates: Disturbing the Peace

What were your favorite books of 2016?

Happy reading!
Helena

Wrap Up: 2016

Hi everyone

Happy New Year!
I hope 2017 will bring you as much or even more reading pleasure as 2016 did.

Here is the list (with links to the reviews) of all the books I read in 2016.
I had a lot of fun taking the pictures at the end of this post and it was the perfect time to give my shelves a good, thorough clean too. Great way to end the year! Rearranging books and then spending a lovely evening with friends.

In the end, I read a total of 50.433 pages in 126 books last year.
That’s exactly 400 pages per book and 138 pages per day.
I think I can safely say I surpassed my own expectations and I crushed my 2015 Wrap Up.

Here’s some information about the series I read in 2016.

I started reading:

• Ben Aaronovitch’s Peter Grant series
• Miles Cameron’s Traitor Son Cycle
• Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers
• Justin Cronin’s The Passage
• Toby Frost’s The Chronicles of Isambard Smith
• Frank Herbert’s Dune Chronicles
• Karen Miller’s Godspeaker Trilogy
• Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles
• Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach

I continued reading:

• Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files
• Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time
• Terry Pratchett’s and Stephen Baxter’s The Long Earth

I finished:

• Isaac Asimov’s Foundation
• Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch
• Terry Pratchett’s Discworld

I started and finished:

• Joe Abercrombie’s The First Law
• Kameron Hurley’s Bel Dame Apocrypha
• J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter

I’m still waiting on the next one to come out:

• Patrick Rothfuss’ The Kingkiller Chronicles

I won’t continue reading:

• David Gemmell’s Jon Shannow
• Mark Lawrence’s The Broken Empire
• George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire
• Kat Richardson’s Greywalker

Here are the books I read in 2016 in the order I read them. If you click on the title of the book you will automatically open the review.

• David Mitchell: Cloud Atlas
• Stephen King: Salem’s Lot
• John Wyndham: The Day of the Triffids
• Robert Jordan: The Fires of Heaven
• J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
• Herman de Coninck: De Gedichten
• William Makepeace Thackeray: Vanity Fair
• Terry Pratchett: Unseen Academicals
• John Wyndham: The Chrysalids
• Jim Butcher: Death Masks
• Kameron Hurley: God’s War
• Allie Brosh: Hyperbole and a Half
• Emma Donoghue: Room
• J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Evelyn Waugh: Decline and Fall
• Seth Dickinson: The Traitor Baru Cormorant
• J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Arthur Miller: The Crucible
• Michel Faber: The Book of Strange New Things
• Philip K. Dick: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
• Wilkie Collins: The Woman in White
• E. M. Forster: Howards End
• Neil Gaiman: How the Marquis Got His Coat Back
• Isaac Asimov: Foundation and Empire
• Robert Jordan: Lord of Chaos
• Jim Butcher: Blood Rites
• Stefan Hertmans: Oorlog en Terpentijn
• Jules Verne: From the Earth to the Moon & Around the Moon
• Shirley Jackson: The Haunting of Hill House
• Ernest Hemingway: The Old Man and the Sea
• Richard Yates: Disturbing the Peace
• Stephen King: The Shining
• Isaac Asimov: Second Foundation
• Joe Abercrombie: The Blade Itself
• Terry Pratchett: I Shall Wear Midnight
• Hella S. Haasse: Maanlicht
• Chris Beckett: Dark Eden
• Isaac Asimov: Foundation’s Edge
• Amos Oz: Between Friends
• J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Ann Leckie: Ancillary Mercy
• Joseph Conrad: The Secret Agent
• Robert Jordan: A Crown of Swords
• Neil Gaiman: Trigger Warning
• Stephen King: The Long Walk
• John Wyndham: Chocky
• Miles Cameron: The Red Knight
• Jules Verne: Journey to the Centre of the Earth
• J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Ira Levin: Rosemary’s Baby
• Isaac Asimov: Foundation and Earth
• Jim Butcher: Dead Beat
• Ben Aaronovitch: Rivers of London
• Joe Abercrombie: Before They are Hanged
• Terry Pratchett: Snuff
• George Eliot: Silas Marner
• Kat Richardson: Greywalker
• Robert Jordan: The Path of Daggers
• Joe Abercrombie: Last Argument of Kings
• Charles Dickens: David Copperfield
• William Shakespeare: Richard III
• Ben Aaronovitch: Moon over Soho
• Terry Pratchett: Raising Steam
• Terry Pratchett: Mrs. Bradshaw’s Handbook
• J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Jim Butcher: Proven Guilty
• Joe Haldeman: The Forever War
• Stephen King: The Stand
• Joseph Conrad: Lord Jim
• Becky Chambers: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
• Ben Aaronovitch: Whispers Under Ground
• Mark Lawrence: Prince of Thorns
• Robert Jordan: Winter’s Heart
• Rachel Joyce: The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy
• J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Frank Herbert: Dune
• Jane Austen: Lady Susan
• H. G. Wells: The Sea Raiders
• Daniel Keyes: Flowers for Algernon
• Emily St. John Mandel: Station Eleven
• David Gemmell: Wolf in Shadow
• Richard Yates: The Easter Parade
• Jules Verne: Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea
• Margaret Atwood: Stone Matress
• Kameron Hurley: Infidel
• David Gemmell: The Last Guardian
• Andy Riley: Great Lies to Tell Small Kids
• Karen Miller: Empress
• Ayn Rand: The Fountainhead
• Kameron Hurley: Rapture
• George Eliot: The Lifted Veil
• Ken Liu: The Clockwork Soldier
• Andy Riley: D.I.Y. Dentistry and Other Alarming Inventions
• Justin Cronin: The Passage
• Ira Levin: Sliver
• Jeff VanderMeer: Annihilation
• Terry Pratchett: The Shepherd's Crown
• John Steinbeck: Cannery Row
• Jim Butcher: White Night
• Robert Jordan: Crossroads of Twilight
• Aliette de Bodard: Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight
• E. M. Forster: Where Angels Fear to Tread
• Dawn French: A Tiny Bit Marvellous
• Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter: The Long Utopia
• William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra
• Aldous Huxley: The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell
• Toby Frost: Space Captain Smith
• William Peter Blatty: The Exorcist
• Thomas de Quincey: Confessions of an English Opium Eater
• Anne Rice: The Vampire Lestat
• Virginia Woolf: Orlando
• Charles Dickens: To Be Read at Dusk
• Charles Dickens: Dombey and Son
• Toby Frost: God Emperor of Didcot
• Andy Riley: The Book of Bunny Suicides
• Karen Miller: The Riven Kingdom
• The Poetry of Pablo Neruda
• Matthew Kressel: The Meeker and the All-Seeing Eye
• Justin Cronin: The Twelve
• Jim Butcher: Small Favour
• Terry Pratchett: Dodger
• Terry Pratchett: Dodger’s Guide to London
• Sebastian Faulks: A Week in December
• Arthur C. Clarke: A Fall of Moondust
• Neil Gaiman: Fragile Things
• Randall Munroe: XKCD volume 0

Happy reading in 2017!
Helena

Wrap Up: December 2016

Hi everyone

Time for another Wrap Up!
December has gone by so incredibly fast I can’t believe it. And January will be even worse with both my husband’s and my birthday.
Enough with the chatter, here are the books I read last month.

I read a total of 3921 pages. That’s 381 pages per book or 160 pages per day.
But I did cheat a bit there. The poetry book was read over the last 6 months.

• Toby Frost: God Emperor of Didcot
• Andy Riley: The Book of Bunny Suicides
• Karen Miller: The Riven Kingdom
• The Poetry of Pablo Neruda
• Matthew Kressel: The Meeker and the All-Seeing Eye
• Justin Cronin: The Twelve
• Jim Butcher: Small Favour
• Terry Pratchett: Dodger
• Terry Pratchett: Dodger’s Guide to London
• Sebastian Faulks: A Week in December
• Arthur C. Clarke: A Fall of Moondust
• Neil Gaiman: Fragile Things
• Randall Munroe: XKCD volume 0

How was your reading last month? Anything you’d like to recommend?

Happy reading!
Helena

Randall Munroe: XKCD volume 0

Hi everyone

A couple of years ago my husband (then boyfriend) became of big fan of Randall Munroe’s webcomic XKCD so I gave him the book for his next birthday. It has 120 pages but the only reason I know that is because of Goodreads as the pages skip numbers.

My husband is an engineer so he understands all the sciencejokes and references. I don’t.
The ones I do understand are very clever, sweet and funny.
However, I would recommend this only if you are interested in science and engineering in particular because the comics are targeted towards those of you who are.
I can only rate this as I read and understood this.

Happy reading!
Helena

Neil Gaiman: Fragile Things

Hi everyone

The last novel I read in 2016 is Neil Gaiman’s short stories collection Fragile Things.
I got it as a gift from my husband and it has 433 pages.
You can find all my Neil Gaiman reviews here.

I didn't really enjoy this collection.

Some of the stories are different and interesting enough and Gaiman does write imaginative stories but there were a lot I just didn’t get or I couldn’t understand what’s so special about them.
The writing was ok but I had a hard time reading more then a few stories a day. That wasn’t a problem because life was very busy but it’s not something I’m used to; I tend to read an hour or two hours at a time in the evening.
Some stories felt like Gaiman was trying too hard to make them different or interesting by adding sexual elements, gratuitous violence or gore and those stories felt wrong to me. He just added those elements and they made the stories less about the plot and more about those aspects.

All in all I had a mixed experience. I liked a few of the stories but I was disappointed one way or another with the majority of them.

Happy reading!
Helena

Arthur C. Clarke: A Fall of Moondust

Hi everyone

This is my review for my first Arthur C. Clarke, A Fall of Moondust.
My copy has 224 pages and I got it at De Slegte.

“Time is running out for the passengers and crew of the tourist cruiser Selene, incarcerated in a sea of choking lunar dust. On the surface, her rescuers find their resources stretched to the limit by the mercilessly unpredictable conditions of a totally alien environment.”

This was a really enjoyable and fast book to read.

The story is obviously very dated at this point in time, but it doesn’t really take away from the enjoyment and thrill you’ll get out of it.
Clarke’s writing style is wonderfully engaging and it really sucks you in. The technical explanations made by a few of the characters went over my head but there weren’t too many of those and as far as I did grasp them, they did seem to be logical and plausible.
I liked the characterization a lot; they all felt true to their words and actions; the characters felt right. The worldbuilding is amazing and I could really imagine myself being there. And the general atmosphere is very claustrophobic and urgent. I liked the switches from the cool, calculating scientists to the more emotional people trapped in the Selene. The story moves rapidly forward and it never gets slowed down by long explanations or touchy/feely type scenes.

There was one thing I disliked though. Clarke has a tendency to end at least two (or so) paragraphs in every chapter with a sort of prediction of what bad things are yet to happen. It felt very childlike and it aggravated me every time. There’s really no need to do that, we all know a lot can go wrong and will go wrong before the end of the novel.

Happy reading!
Helena