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The Moon Dwellers (The Dwellers #1)
The Moon Dwellers (The Dwellers #1)
David Estes | 2012 | Dystopia, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
7
4.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Unique dystopian world (2 more)
Great character development
Quick read
Amazing first installment of the Dwellers Series!
As an older reader, I somehow find myself being drawn more often than not to the YA Dystopian, Sci-fi, and Fantasy genres thanks to books like The Moon Dwellers.
David Estes has created a unique post-apocalyptic world under the surface of the Earth in which the remaining people live. There are 3 underground realms: Sun, Moon, and Star that fittingly describe the amount of light that each level recieves and thus dictates the class of people that reside on each level.
The story is of 17-year-old Adele who is sentenced to life in the Pen for her parent's treasonous acts, since the abduction of her parents and sister by the Enforcers.
After learning that her family is, in fact, alive, she plots to escape her prison and rescue her family, but not before making a couple of friends in the Pen and developing some very weird feelings for the President of the Sun Realm's son (who apparently has developed the same feelings for her) whom she has never met!
An rollercoaster ride of emotions are what awaits you whilst reading this exciting tale! And I can't wait to read the second installment of The Dwellers Series!
  
The Associates of Sherlock Holmes
The Associates of Sherlock Holmes
George Mann | 2016 | Mystery
7
8.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
A mixed bag of Sherlockian pastiches, each focusing on a different member of the supporting cast: these range from the very well-known to the rather obscure (e.g. Holmes' rival Barker, here recast as a Dorrington-esque chancer). Holmes himself is central to some of the stories, but almost entirely absent from others - so we get a range of different kinds of story. Holmes and Lestrade hunt for a Ripper-like serial killer; Irene Adler seeks revenge on the man she believes destroyed her life; Sebastian Moran sets out to hunt down a quarry with surprisingly large feet. Most of these are relatively 'straight', but some of the contributions enter the realms of horror and the paranormal.

Mostly fun and readable stuff, though, with nothing too shockingly revisionist (it's amusing to note that the authors here can't decide amongst themselves where exactly Dr Watson was shot). None of the stories is really outstanding, but there are no absolute stinkers either (although the one which attempts to 'fix' some of the absurder features of The Speckled Band by recourse to the introduction of Tibetan thought-projection techniques probably comes closest). Proof of the endless fun to be gained from playing around with this set of characters.
  
    Singularity

    Singularity

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    What if the cataclysmic Tunguska explosion of 1908 was caused, not by a meteor or a comet, but by a...

A Cupboard Full of Coats
A Cupboard Full of Coats
Yvvette Edwards | 2011 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
8
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I found this book very powerful and moving. It is a journey of a woman broken from traumatic events in her childhood and how the mysterious, enigmatic Lemon leads her on a journey towards healing and wholeness. This book is stark in its descriptions and joltingly shocking even though the plot holds a fatalistic inevitability.

At the beginning of the book Jinx is a hollow, cold, deeply scarred woman who lives a very isolated life unable to even form a relationship with her young son. She is unable to believe in and receive love from anyone after the emotional betrayal of her mother led to complete devastation in her teens.

Yet, then Lemon walks back into her life and, whilst at his own admission he is no saint, he leads he on a path to exorcise her guilt and discover redemption. Lemon is a fascinating character who has almost angelic qualities at times and his relationship with Jinx is full of mystery and is at times their scenes together are almost like a fable. And yet throughout the mystery the vivid descriptions and very raw, tangible emotions experienced by the two protagonists ground the story firmly within the realms of human experience, taking the reader on a moving journey of empathy and affinity.