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The Lost History of Stars
The Lost History of Stars
Dave Boling | 2017 | History & Politics
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Lost History of Stars by Dave Boling is a powerful and shocking story about a family during The Second Anglo-Boer War during the early part of the 20th century in Africa. It's a historical fiction story that is inspired by true events. The Lost History of Stars is a story of desperation and hope.

The main character, Lettie, who is a thirteen year old Dutch-Africkaner girl comes from a poor farming family. She endures the loss of her home with her mother and two younger siblings when the scorched earth policy employed by the British during the Boer War burns their farm and forces them to leave in a wagon. Their African maid, Bina, tries to stay with the family, but is given no choice by the soldiers but to return to her people.

Lettie and her family are sent to a concentration camp where the conditions are awful. Her father, older brother, uncles, and grandfather are sent to fight the British with guerrilla tactics. Lettie worries and wonders about Bina and her family. Often Lettie remembers the songs and wisdom Bina shared during her childhood and the history of stars that Grandpa shared with her at night under the sparkling sky.

The story is told from Lettie's point of view. The reader learns of her experience in the concentration camp. Lettie attempt to find the good in small moments. Her more treasured possession is her English dictionary, which she reads for comfort to pass time.

The story switches between the present and past. This allows the reader to understand life before the war and during the war. It give the reader background information to understand the family dynamics.
  
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Janine O (2 KP) rated Fortune's Pawn in Books

Oct 18, 2017  
Fortune's Pawn
Fortune's Pawn
Rachel Bach | 2017 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
the characters (0 more)
Science Fiction meets complicated Romance
I am both a romance fanatic and a science fiction buff and one day I was just poking around looking for something that would blend these two things without being...you know...bad. I've read a lot of things about some lady in an experimental ship who accidentally ends up on a planet where a hot alien alpha dude wants to make her his interplanetary bride.

I did not want that. I wanted a complex story with romantic themes set in space...and that's exactly what this book gave me.


Fortune's Pawn rocked. Devi Morris is a badass, power armor clad mercenary with a dream to join an elite merc unit...but she has to get some expedition references first. So what does she do? Chooses the one ship with the worst track record in the hopes it with fast track her ambitions to the top. While I wont put spoilers I will say she gets her wish...kinda. She finds romance...that gets VERY complicated, mystery, and tossed into what is bound to end in an interstellar war.

9/10, highly recommend.