A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

 by Hank Green

449 pgs  (The Carls series #2)

Hank Green's A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor picks up about six months after An Absolutely Remarkable Thing left off. April May, the young woman who skyrocketed to unprecedented fame overnight with her documentation of the first of the Carls (10-foot tall alien samurai robots that suddenly appeared scattered all over the world) died at the end of the latter, but her body was never discovered. At the time of her death, all the Carls disappeared as quickly and inexplicably as they had appeared, taking with them the common dreams they had implanted on people all over the world. Six months later, April's friends, along with most everyone else, are still grieving over the loss of both April and the Carls.

Peter Petrawicki, who was indirectly responsible for April's death, has built an offshore research company that uses technology tied to the Carls, and is now worth billions. But with his company's success come changes that threaten to forever change the world, and not for the better. His company, an amalgamation of Facebook, Second Life, and a Bitcoin-type data-mining company, has the potential to destroy the economies of the world and usher in a form of dystopia never contemplated before.

This book took me longer to get into than its predecessor, and for the first half of it I wasn't sure whether it would end up representing a sophomore slump for Hang Green. Thankfully, by the end, I remain a big fan of Green and his storytelling.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Dark Age

by Pierce Brown
751 pgs  (Red Rising series #5)

Darrow, the former slave who led the revolution against the caste system that had enslaved him along with every other red, is back. And not just in the sense of this new installment in the Pierce Brown's series being released, but back to his merciless and vengeful ways.

It's been ten years since he led the revolution and founded the Republic. But now Darrow has been abandoned by it, even labeled a traitor and deemed an outlaw. Along with what remains of his army, Darrow, the once great Reaper, now finds himself waging a rogue war on the fields of Mercury. But he's no longer interested in the politics that restrained him in Iron Gold, and he's determined to continue what he started decades ago.

His wife Virgina still leads the fragile demokracy, their son Pax has been abducted by their enemies, and Darrow is willing to kill billions, if that's what it takes to get back what he's lost.

This is the fifth book in the series, the longest so far, and Pierce Brown appears to have found yet another gear to move forward in. The action and the pacing are relentless, which is a good thing, because that's where Brown shines the brightest. I'm enjoying the series more now than ever before, but don't know how much more I can take, You'd think this far in, some things would have been resolved by now, but that's not the case. The space opera that Brown is writing keeps getting more and more intriguing and complex.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Earthfall

by Orson Scott Card
350 pgs  (Homecoming series #4)

Earthfall is the fourth installment in OSC's Homecoming series, and it follows the small group of travelers assembled by the Oversoul from the planet of Harmony back to Earth, the planet humans had to abandon 40 million years ago. From the very beginning of the book, the conflict between Nafai and his brother Elemak has intensified, and soon after they board the ship that will take them back to earth, it becomes violent. If not for the powers given to Nafai by the Oversoul, he would have died.

Once they land on earth, they discover two sentient species, which have evolved since humans left the planet into two separate but warring races. And it quickly becomes vitally important the colonists are able to make peace with these two races, as well as with each other.

As I've mentioned in the reviews of the earlier books in the series, Card borrowed heavily from the first book of The Book of Mormon for inspiration in this story (the space travel and alien races are all his), and it's that connection to the source material that, up until now, has kept me interest in the story so far. But with this installment, I found myself finally getting sucked into Card's own story. He picked up the pace with this one, and when it was done, I was more excited to pick up the next, which is the last book in the series, than I have been so far.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Starsight

by Brandon Sanderson
461 pgs  (Skyward series #2)

Picking up where Skyward left off, Starsight takes Spensa Nightshade, the young, newly-trained, intergalactic fighter pilot, away from Detritus, the human prison colony she's called home her whole life, and onto the massive Krell spaceship. She's there as a spy, her true identity as a human hidden by a holographic disguise. She's there to try to discover and steal the source of hyperdrive space travel and hopefully, save the human species from extinction at the hand of the Krell.

But Spensa is in way over her head. She's not trained to be a spy. She wasn't sent to the Krell ship by her commanding officer, but an unexpected and unique opportunity presents itself to her. Without considering the risks or possible ramifications of her decision, she leaves and travels to the Krell's ship.

Starsight is a worthy follow-up to Skyward. It's full of action scenes (which Sanderson excels at) and Spensa's knack for shooting from the hip and letting motions drive her actions, provides for a very enjoyable story to read. I'm excited to see how things get wrapped up in the next book.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The Ships of Earth

by Orson Scott Card
382 pgs  (Homecoming series #3)

The Ships of Earth is the third volume in Orson Scott Card's Homecoming series. Nafai, his wife, and the rest of the group the Oversoul led out of Basilica, are traveling through the desert to where the ancient starships were left 40 million years ago. If they can get to them without killing each other first, they can take the ships back to earth.

The story Card is telling is interesting, but mostly because I'm familiar with the source material he pulled from. I'm enjoying seeing how he's taken that original religious story and converted it into an epic science fiction tale. I'd enjoy discussing the book with someone who had no idea it wasn't 100% Card's and see what they thought of it.

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

The City in the Middle of the Night

by Charlie Jane Anders
366 pgs

The City in the Middle of the Night is a science fiction story big on ideas, heavy on social commentary, and light on fun and enjoyment. It's a story that takes place on a planet called January, on which humans settled and established a civilization many years ago, a civilization now waning. January itself is a planet consisting of two extremes. Half of the planet continually faces its sun and is too hot to inhabit, and the other half faces deep space, and is too cold. Nevertheless, humans built two cities there, Xiosphant and Argelo, right along the edge of the daylight and the darkness.

Sophie and Bianca are college roommates at a privileged university in Xiosphant, who just like January, exemplify two extremes. Bianca comes from the light side of Xiosphant, and a family of wealth and means, and Sophie, who comes from the dark side of the city, comes from little and had to essentially force her way in to the school.

Sophie is in love with Bianca and when Bianca one day steals a small amount of money to buy her and her friends drinks, Sophie takes it upon herself to take the fall when the police get involved and is "executed" for her crime. Her form of execution is to be thrown out of the city and left to die of exposure outside its walls. But instead of dying as was intended, Sophie is able to survive.

She survives with the help of the crocodiles (stay with me a little while longer), which are the native species on January. They're intelligent, telepathic, resemble large furry lobsters, and unsurprisingly, are feared and hunted by humans. They have their own city in the middle of the dark side of the planet and it's there that Sophie finds refuge and learns to communicate with, and ultimately love the species as a whole.

Sophie would be content to live out the rest of her days with the crocodiles, but she's destined to play a larger role on January, one that ultimately could determine the fate of the whole planet.

I had such high hopes for this book. I really enjoyed All the Birds in the Sky, the only other book by Anders that I'd read, and so I was hoping this book would grab me and hold me the way that one did. Unfortunately, it never did. I never found myself caring about Sophie, or anyone else in the story, nor the revolution she ends up leading. I also found the social commentary, which the book is clearly providing, a little heavy handed and unappealing.

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

It Devours!

by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor
347 pgs  (Welcome to Night Vale series #2)

It Devours! is the second book to take place in Night Vale, the fictionalized desert town made popular in the long-running podcast Welcome to Night Vale. It's a town that's a little reminiscent of Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon, but the version of it, had it been created by Stephen King instead. Ghosts, aliens, and mysterious government agents are commonplace in Night Vale, and if there's a conspiracy theory that has ever been thought of, chances are, it's true in Night Vale.

The stories that take place in Night Vale, both those told in the podcasts, and those in the two books so far, are not driven by any particular plot, most of the time. In fact, the plot is really secondary to the atmosphere and feel of the story. That's not to say there isn't a plot, there is, but the story meanders around the plot and only seems to come back around to it occasionally. Surprisingly, that's a big part of the appeal for me. Much in the same way I enjoyed The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I found myself simply enjoying the journey, and not necessarily the destination.

As far as the plot goes though, here's a small taste: There's a mysterious void that keeps "appearing" in random places in Night Vale, which swallows up whole buildings and anyone who happened to be inside of them at the time. The local religion, The Joyous Congregation of the Smiling God, and local scientists are at odds to try to explain what the void is and to understand where and when it will appear next.

I enjoyed It Devours!. It's a fun story that had me smiling often. I've only listened to a handful of the podcasts so far, and to be honest, I think the types of stories Fink and Cranor come up with for the town are better suited for that format, but the books offer an interesting and more in-depth visit to this small desert town where the possibilities are endless.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Recursion

by Blake Crouch
326 pgs

For the past couple of years, anytime anyone asked me for a book recommendation, the first book I've thought about has been Dark Matter, by Blake Crouch. It's the first and only book by him I've read, and I loved it. It's a mind-bending science fiction book that's hard to describe, and to even try to, runs the risk of spoiling the experience for whomever I recommend it to. So, I simply tell them to read it. Recursion is just as mind-bending, just as enjoyable, and I'll be recommending it just as often.

Like its predecessor, Recursion is a difficult book to describe, so I won't say much. But at its core, it's about memory, and the role memory plays in time. The book begins in 2018 with a NYPD detective responding to a suicide call. The "jumper" is a woman who tells him she suffers from False Memory Syndrome--a new condition that has recently begun to afflict people, suddenly giving them a new set of memories of a life they never lived.

The book then jumps back to 2007, to a scientist named Helena Smith, who is approached by one of the wealthiest men in the world, who offers her his unlimited resources to fund her research in to memory and curing Alzheimer's. As the book continues to jump back and forth between the events of 2007 and 2018, Crouch slowly unfolds the scope and magnitude of the story he's written...and it's impressive.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Skyward

by Brandon Sanderson
510 pgs  (Skyward series #1)

Skyward begins a new series by Brandon Sanderson (which brings the running total to four active series he's writing). The series is targeted to young adult readers and falls into the science fiction genre. The book reminded me of both The Last Starfighter and Ender's Game, two of my favorites in the genre.

Spensa is a young girl who has dreamt her entire life of following in her father's footsteps and becoming a fighter pilot, protecting what remains of the human race from the Krell, the alien race that has continually been attacking them, ever since they landed on the world of Detritus. But the likelihood of that dream coming true, and Spensa ever being given the chance to attend flight school, are remote at best. Because Spensa and her widowed mother have been living with the shame of what her father did on his final battle against the Krell. In one of the largest battles in history, Spensa's father, one of the greatest fighter pilots ever, inexplicably deserted his squadron and was killed, leaving Spensa to spend the rest of her life branded as the daughter of a coward.

Skyward is a promising start to a series Sanderson has said will likely be four books long, and it has everything you would expect from one of his books. It has fast-paced action scenes, characters that are relatable and endearing, and just the right amount of Sanderson's subtle sense of humor.

Starsight, the second, is due out in November, giving me another Sanderson book to look forward to while I wait for the fourth book in The Stormlight Archive series.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The Call of Earth

by Orson Scott Card
304 pgs  (Homecoming series #2)

The Call of Earth, book two in Orson Scott Card's Homecoming series, picks up right where The Memory of Earth left off. Nafai and the rest of Volemak's family, having been directed by the Oversoul through dreams to flee the city of Basilica, have begun their journey through the desert. General Moozh, using forbidden technology, has begun the systematic conquering of the surrounding cities in preparation for taking control of Basilica soon. All while many have begun having unsettling dreams. But these aren't sent by the Oversoul, these are sent by the Keeper of Earth, millions of light years away.

I enjoyed The Memory of Earth, but didn't think it was anything special, at least, not in comparison to Card's Ender series. I was pleased to find that The Call of Earth offered more promise than it did. It reinforced my decision to continue reading the series, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes from here.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The Memory of Earth

by Orson Scott Card
294 pgs  (Homecoming series #1)

Forty million years ago, humans left a dying earth and settled the planet they called Harmony. They created the Oversoul, an artificially e=intelligent computer, with the primary purpose ofensuring the same fate that befell earth could never befall Harmony. They gave the Oversoul the ability to communicate telepathically with people and to an extent, control their thoughts and behavior. For 40 million years, the Oversoul has fulfilled its purpose, preventing people from developing the technologies that led to the destruction of Earth But now, the Oversoul is finally breaking down, and it knows its only hope for survival is to send its core back to Earth, and to the Keeper of Lost Earth, in hopes that it can repair it.

To that end, the Oversoul selects a man named Wetchik and gives him a vision. In the vision, Wetchik sees the destruction of Harmony and realizes that the Oversoul, which was worshipped as  a god by many, but disregarded by most, was in fact real, and could still communicate with humans. Wetchik convinces his wife and four sons--the youngest of whom, Nafai also begins to receive messages from the Oversoul--that his vision was real and that they have been chosen for a very important purpose.

The Memory of Earth is the first of five books in Orson Scott Card's Homecoming series, written back in the 90s. By itself, it's not great, but it sets the stage for what I think could potentially be a pretty good series. For some, it will be obvious from where Card, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, took the inspiration for his story. Which for me, turned out to be a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it was interesting to see how closely Card mirrored his story, but on the other hand, most of the plot points were foregone conclusions.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Bluescreen

by Dan Wells
335 pgs  (Mirador series #1)

In the year 2050, everyone is constantly connected to the Internet via their djinni, a smart device implanted directly in their head. The djinni serves as a communication device, computer, GPS, house key, bankcard, and a host of other functions all at once. People are able to plug devices and drives directly into their djinni and download new software, games, and anything else they want 24/7. Marisa and her friends Anja, Sahara, Fang, and Java, who call themselves the Cherry Dogs, spend most of their time immersed in virtual-reality games and plan to eventually become professional "Overworld" players.

One day, Anja buys a new "plug-in" on the street called Bluescreen and brings it back to the Cherry Dogs to try. It's supposed to have a drug-like effect on users, but when Anja takes it, her behavior is alarming. She behaves as if she's in a trance for a period before eventually losing consciousness. Marisa and the group start investigating who's behind Bluescreen and what it's intended to do to those who use it, but their investigation puts their lives in danger.

Bluescreen is a smart, tech-savvy science-fiction thriller that was written for a slightly younger audience, but it should appeal to anyone who enjoys the genre. It's the start of a series that has two follow-up books already out.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Iron Gold

by Pierce Brown
596 pgs  (Red Rising series #4)

It's been ten years since the uprising and rebellion of the Red slaves on Mars against the Gold ruling caste. Darrow, the slave who led the revolution and took on the persona of the Reaper, has become a legend during those years, as he's continued to lead the new Solar Republic in battles against the Ash Lord in an effort to liberate the rest of the solar system. But there is a faction at work within the Republic, one that wants to undermine Darrow, the war he's fighting, and the millions of lives that have been lost in his quest to provide that freedom.

In this, the fourth book in his "Red Rising" series, Pierce Brown does something unexpected with the series. Instead of continuing to focus primarily on his main character and follow him as he continues to fight for those unable to fight for themselves, he instead shifts the focus to others in the series and removes Darrow from the pedestal he and others have put him on.

I've heard this series referred to as a "space opera," and that label is deserved. The story and the action are often over the top, and the characters tend to be more caricatures with extreme personalities than fully fleshed out characters with complex personalities. But in this case, I'm okay with that. The series is fun. And I think it's exactly what Pierce Brown wants it to be.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Artemis

by Andy Weir
265 pgs

Andy Weir hit a grand slam with his debut novel The Martian. After self-publishing it and offering it for 99¢ as an e-book, it became so popular that soon an audiobook version as created, production on a major film starring Matt Damon began, and finally a physical edition of the book was released, which was an immediate bestseller...in that order. That kind of success from a first-time novelist would justifiably make any writer envious. But with that level of success comes the not-so-envious problem of what to do next.

With Artemis, Weir doesn't stray very far from the formula that worked so well for him the first time. This time it's the Moon, instead of Mars that he uses for his location. And it's a 26-year-old woman named Jasmine (Jazz), who grew up in Artemis--the Moon's first and only city--who plays the role of protagonist.

Jazz and her father relocated to the Moon when she was only six. Her father, a master welder, provided a good life for the two of them helping to build and maintain Artemis. When she grew up, Jazz took a job as a porter, delivering goods and materials that would regularly arrive at Artemis from Earth, but she found a far more lucrative career arranging and  smuggling contraband to its certain citizens. It was in that role that Jazz was introduced to the city's wealthiest and most corrupt businessman, Trond Ladvik.

Eventually Trond pitches a job to Jazz that is far riskier than anything she's ever been involved in. But with it comes a potential payday that would set her up for life. She agrees to the perform the job, but when things don't go as planned, the consequences end up endangering the lives of the 2,000+ inhabitants of Artemis.

There are a lot of things I liked about this book. The level of science Weir manages to pack into his story is impressive, and he does it in such a way that it adds depth to the story. Jazz, like Watney was in The Martian, is a protagonist easy to get behind and pull for, even though she's essentially a criminal. The story moves along at a good pace, and even though the action takes place at a sixth of Earth's gravity, it's still exciting.

Where Artemis falls a little short is in Weir's character development. For all intents and purposes, The Martian only had one character that Weir had to develop, so the job of doing so was far easier than it was this time around, where there are multiple key and side characters needing to be fleshed out. Weir is obviously a very smart and talented writer, and I'm confident that over time his character development will improve. I'm looking forward to many more books to come, and I'm excited to see where they all take place.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

by Hank Green
341 pgs  (The Carls series #1)

When April May, a recent art school graduate, stumbles across a 10-foot tall metal statue in the middle of the sidewalk late at night, a statue that wasn't there the night before, she decides, on a whim, to call her friend Andy to meet her there and record a video of her "interviewing" it that they can post on YouTube for laughs.

"Carl," as she names the statue, is something of a cross between a Transformer and a samurai, and while she doesn't think much about it at the time, there's something not quite right with it. Not only has it appeared without any explanation or ceremony in the middle of a New York sidewalk, it also doesn't feel right when she touches it. It's not cold, like it should be on a cold evening in new York. After they film her tongue-in-cheek interview with Carl, she goes home to bed, leaving Andy to edit the video and post it. When she wakes up the next morning, the whole world has changed.

It turns out Carl is one of 64 "Carls" that seem to have appeared simultaneously all over the world. No one knows what they are, who made them, or how they came to be in any of their locations. The Internet is dominated with people speculating about them, and since the first online account of any of them is April and Andy's video, April has become famous all around the world overnight.

In a matter of days, April's life changes from being a recent college graduate with more than $100,000 in student debt, to that of an A-list celebrity with an agent, a book deal, who commands thousands of dollars for each news interview and TV appearance she does.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is the first book published by Hank Green, adn it itself is a remarkable thing. It's a fun and engaging science fiction story, but it's also a very timely reflection on the culture of celebrity, social media, and many people's obsession for collecting clicks, likes, and followers that has become so prevalent today.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.

by Neal Stephenson & Nicole Galland
752 pgs

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. is a collaboration between Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland. While I've never read anything by Galland before, I have read one of Stephenson's books: Reamde. And based on it, I was expecting a book full of big ideas that would entertain me while it made me think. Stephenson's books are smart, serious, modern Science Fiction tomes, and Galland has made a name for herself more recently with her historical fiction books. The marriage of the two authors produced a child that is smart, entertaining, and oftentimes light-hearted and fun.

At its core, the book is a time travel story. Tristan Lyons oversees the U.S. Government's "Department of Diachronic Operations," a small, underfunded department that the government hopes will soon play a major role in ensuring the country's future military dominance. Tristan recruits Melisande Stokes, a Harvard linguist, to translate ancient documents having to do with magic. She learns that magic is real and once prevalent. Witches used to perform it by accessing alternate realities and influencing decisions and outcomes from the different realities to reach desirable outcomes. Now, there is only one witch left and she works for D.O.D.O. D.O.D.O. wants to use their witch to send Melisande, and eventually, other agents back in time in order to "nudge" the timeline in a more favorable direction for the country.

The story is a little reminiscent of the movie Groundhog Day, as Mel and others are sent back repeatedly to specific moments in the past to try to convince people to make different decisions or to do things differently. They must learn from their failures in order to increase the likelihood of success on their next trip, sometimes dozens of times until they achieve their goals.

I had a lot of fun reading D.O.D.O. Time travel stories are usually entertaining because of the never-ending possibilities. And this one didn't disappoint. I'm pretty confident I could tell what each author brought to the story-telling process. And based on that, I plan to continue reading Stephenson's books and will start reading Galland's.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Dying of the Light

by George R.R. Martin
339 pgs

Nearly twenty years before A Game of Thrones was published, George R.R. Martin's first novel Dying of the Light was released. Having taken a sabbatical from reading his "A Song of Ice and Fire" series until Martin finishes it (or dies first), I decided I'd go back into his earlier catalog and see what he wrote back when he was releasing books at a less infuriating pace.

Dying of the Light is a science fiction story set in Martin's "Thousand Worlds" universe, in which I understand several of his other earlier works also take place. Worlorn is a dying planet. it doesn't revolve around its own star like most planets do. Instead, a decade or so ago, its took it temporarily near enough to a red giant star for the planet to become temporarily inhabitable. Terraformers, biologists, and architects from neighboring worlds came to Worlorn and formed a civilization. But now, Worlorn has moved further and further away from the red giant, the civilization built there has almost completely died off.

The story Martin sets on this unique planet is ambition and quite entertaining. But for myself, I inevitably compared it to the ASOIAF books, and not surprisingly, I ended up feeling a little let down. Martin's potential as a writer and storyteller is evident in this book. But the book shows he had a long way to go before he was ready for the magnitude and scope of the series that solidified his place among the greats in the genre...a series I hope both of us live long enough to complete.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Earthcore

by Scott Sigler
577pgs

Earthcore is the first of Scott Sigler's books to be written, but it's the last one for me to read. Primarily because when it was originally published back in 2001, it had such a limited press run that it is hard to get a hold of a physical copy of the book. I had also heard Sigler had plans to re-release it eventually, s I figured I'd just wait. in 2017 Sigler decided to not just re-release it, but to give the book a major rewrite at the same time.

The book takes place primarily in the Wah Wah Mountains of Southwest Utah, where an old prospector discovers what will turn out to be the largest platinum deposit ever found. The company who secures the mining rights to the deposit will inevitably become one of the most profitable in the world for many years to come. EarthCore plans to be that company.

Connell Kirkland, a young and ruthless executive for EarthCore assembles a team to go after the platinum, which lies three miles below the surface, farther than anyone has ever successfully drilled and mined before. At that depth, the temperature is hot enough to cook a human being in only a few minute's time, so the team relies on state-of-the-art gear and equipment to keep them alive and safe as they make their way to the mother lode.

But this wouldn't be a Scott Sigler book if that's all there was to it. And sure enough, the drilling awakens a danger that has lain dormant for thousands of years.

Not having read the original edition, I don't have anything to compare it to. But I can definitively say the new version doesn't read like a book by a first-time novelist. That's not to say it's an excellent book. It's not. But it's a fun and entertaining story that makes you look forward to the sequel Sigler sets the stage for at the end.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The Gone World

by Tom Sweterlitsch
388 pgs

In Tom Sweterlitsch's book The Gone World, mankind is not limited in its ability to travel across both space and time. The Naval Space Command runs a covert space and time-traveling program that sends Navy personnel across the galaxy and across time.

A world-ending phenomenon called Terminus has been discovered, and Naval Space Command is working nonstop to find a way to prevent it. Navy personnel who have witnessed Terminus are forever changed. Among those is Shannon Moss, an NCIS agent who experienced the Terminus first hadn't during a mission to the year 2199. During that mission she saw a version of herself, crucified mid-air in a wasteland of a world. She She was able to return to the present (1997), but no unscathed.

Once back, Shannon is assigned to a team of agents trying to find a missing girl. The girl's family was brutally murdered in their home, and it appears the person who committed the murders was a naval officer who had been participating in the time-travel program. Moss begins jumping back and forth between 1997 and 2015, trying to solve the murders and hopefully learn something that will help the team find the girl back in 1997. But Moss also learns that there's a connection between the Terminus and the missing girl and her family. A connection that is becoming more and more important to discover, since the Terminus appears to be getting closer to the present timeline of earth every time it's encountered.

The mystery part of Sweterlitsch's story is interesting, but where the story really stands out is with his exploration of the potential consequences of time travel. Each time Moss comes back to 1997 and acts on information she learned in 2015, things have changed the next time she returns to 2015--sometimes inexplicably and drastically. It makes for a complicated story that if you're not very attentive to, can easily become confusing.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the book a lot, almost enough to start over as soon as I finished it to pick up on all of the things I'm sure I missed the first time around.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Welcome to Night Vale

by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor
401 pgs  (Night Vale series #1)

Welcome to Night Vale is the first book by coauthors Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, the creators of the twice-monthly podcast of the same name. Night Vale is a small desert town located somewhere in the American Southwest. But Night Vale is not like any small town you’ve ever driven through, stopped for gas at, or eaten a meal in its local diner. In Night Vale, aliens are real, time is kind of funny, and every conspiracy theory you can imagine is true.

The lives of two of its residents: Jackie Fierro, the pawnshop owner who has been 19 years old for decades, and Diane Crayton, whose son is a moody teenage shapeshifter, are drawn together by bizarre circumstances. Jackie is given a small strip of paper by a man who is impossible to remember if you’re not looking at him. The words KING CITY are written on the paper and Jackie finds she’s physically unable to get rid of it. Meanwhile, Diane’s son Josh has recently become interested in his estranged father, a man who until recently Diane hadn’t seen since she was pregnant with Josh, but who now seems to be everywhere she turn…and he doesn’t appear to have aged a day.

When Josh disappears, Diane believes he’s gone to KING CITY and she enlists Jackie’s help in getting there. But together they discover that physically leaving Night Vale is seemingly impossible.

Welcome to Night Vale is a wildly inventive story. At times it gets a little too absurd for its own good, but overall, it’s funny and entertaining. If you haven’t listened to any of the podcasts set there, it’ll take a while to settle in, but if you’re willing to just buckle up and enjoy the ride, it’s a worthwhile read.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆