science fiction – Page 2

Caramel reviews Star Wars: Lost Stars by Claudia Gray

Today Caramel is reviewing a book recommended by a friend of the blog: Star Wars: Lost Stars, written by Claudia Gray and published in 2015. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: Finally we are talking about the space book you had promised us a couple weeks ago.

Caramel: Yes, it’s a Star Wars book this time.

S: What do you mean by that? Is it about the movies? You reviewed three books like that: Ultimate Star Wars: New Edition, Star Wars Encyclopedia of Starfighters and Other Vehicles by Landry Q. Walker, and Star Wars: Complete Vehicles – New Edition. Or is it fiction about the Star Wars universe?

C: All those were cool! But this one is fiction.

S: Oh great! You have reviewed two fictional works about the Star Wars universe before: 5-Minute Star Wars Stories by LucasFilm Press and A Jedi You Will Be by Preeti Chhibber and Mike Deas. But according to Wikipedia, there are almost a million books about the Star Wars universe, and many of them, this one included, basically expand the universe with storylines touching the stories of the original three movies.

C: Yep, maybe not a million, but a lot! And this is one of them. It is what they call a “young adult” book. I am young but pretty far from being an adult.

S: Hmm, I can see it is a lot thicker than those two books you reviewed before and there are no illustrations or cute drawings.

C: No, unfortunately, it’s more of a romance thingy.

S: I guess when they call books “young adult”, sometimes romance shows up. And I know illustrations are always cool, and especially for space and technology related books, they would be really helpful.

C: Yeah, I wish it had drawings, too.

S: But you have also read many books without illustrations. Almost all the Wings of Fire books for example, not counting the graphic novelizations. So sometimes the story will still carry you along, because words help you see things too.

C: Yes, that is true.

S: Okay, so tell us a bit about the story itself. I understand we are in the Star Wars universe and there is some romance. But there has to be a story.

C: It’s about two people: a boy named Thane Kyrell and a girl named Ciena Ree. They live on an Imperial world. The boy is relatively rich and the girl is poorer. They become good friends and end up learning how to fly.

S: Okay, you will have to slow down for me a bit. An Imperial world, what do you mean by that?

C: It is a planet which is governed by the Galactic Empire. You remember the Galactic Empire from the movies?

S: Oh yes, I do. Okay, I cheated and looked it up: Wikipedia says that “[t]he book is set before, during, and after the events of the Star Wars original trilogy (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi), in which the Galactic Empire has tightened its stranglehold on systems in the Outer Rim while the Rebel Alliance also grows in strength.”

C: Don’t cheat! You should read the book if you want to know that! But anyways, yes, that is correct.

S: Okay, so we know the setting, kind of. But they learn to fly? You mean space ships?

C: Yep, they fly space ships, mostly inside atmosphere ships. Then they get really good, and they sneak into a show of the empire, and grand moff Tarken is there. The moff finds them and can see that they have potential. They then sign up to join the Imperial Navy, also known as the space people. They are the people who fly the TIE fighters.

Caramel is reading Star Wars: Lost Stars by Claudia Gray. — Caramel is reading *Star Wars: Lost Stars* by Claudia Gray.

S: Wait, you are going way too fast for me. What is a show of the empire? And what is a moff?

C: They sort of just show off their power and ships.

S: Oh, kind of like a military parade or an air show?

C: Yeah, except more dictator-like.

S: Well, the empire is kind of authoritarian, so that adds up. Okay so what is a moff? Sounds like a military rank then.

C: it’s some sort of important military leader

S: I see. Then what happens?

C: Well, basically they are split up and one stays with the Empire while the other one joins the rebels.

S: Is that how it ends?

C: No, that is kind of in the middle.

S: I see; that is good. At least we have not given away too many plot secrets. But it sounds like an interesting tension, of two friends who take different sides in a very big conflict. The romance is between the two of them, I am assuming?

C: Yes, it is.

S: But from all that you are telling me, the romance is there, but the story could work even if we just assumed they were two very good friends who are facing the dilemma of choosing different paths.

C: Yep, and honestly I’d have preferred that.

S: I know you and Marshmallow do not love romance. But for many readers, that sometimes adds just some extra flavor. But it seems to me the Star Wars backdrop is actually quite engaging too.

C: Yes, but it is not really a backdrop. It is really like you are living in the time of the movies and the world is very real.

S: Okay, then. That sounds good to me. Would you recommend it to other bunnies who like the Star Wars universe?

C: Maybe bunnies older than elementary school because younger bunnies do not like the mushy stuff too much.

S: I can’t imagine which younger bunnies you are talking about!

C: Hmm, me neither.

S: Okay, let us leave it there then. But the story was cool, no?

C: Yeah, it was neat to learn about how they got into flying. And it was a story of love and betrayal. And that can be kind of epic, you know. And I always love to read about the Star Wars universe and the ships and such. It was cool for example that Thane and Ciena were flying TIE fighters and we have seen them in all the movies.

S: Yes, I can see how that could be neat. Okay, so maybe this is a good place to end this review. What would you like to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading Star Wars: Lost Stars by Claudia Gray and is now looking through a whole pile of other Star Wars books to pick the one to read next. — Caramel enjoyed reading *Star Wars: Lost Stars* by Claudia Gray and is now looking through a whole pile of other Star Wars books to pick the one to read next.

Sprinkles reviews Flatland: A Journey of Many Dimensions – The Movie Edition by Edwin A. Abbott

Today Sprinkles reviews a 2008 edition of a unique classic: Flatland: A Journey of Many Dimensions – The Movie Edition, credited to “Edwin A. Abbott, with Thomas Banchoff and the Filmmakers of Flatland“.

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott was originally published in 1884. As Wikipedia tells us, this was a novella written by “A Square” who lived in a two-dimensional world called Flatland. The main plot of the book involved the Square meeting a Sphere, coming into Flatland and teaching him about the third dimension. The Square, his consciousness now widened, began to stipulate the existence of fourth and higher dimensions, which in turn confused the Sphere.

The book’s story is amusing, and for many young minds it could be a welcome introduction to the mathematics and philosophy of higher dimensions. The adults reading the book together with their young one would also appreciate the satire underneath it all. Abbott’s pointed comments about the second class status of women in Victorian England, on the other hand, can be comprehended by some of the young crowd. (In Flatland, men are two-dimensional — they are polygons of various types — but women are one-dimensional; they are very very pointy and have no depth.)

The bottom of the Wikipedia article on Flatland lists several online places where one can access the full text of Flatland, as it is now in public domain. (Here, for example, is the Project Gutenberg version.) But I wanted to review this particular 2008 edition of the book because it not only contains the full text but also has some information about the 2007 movie made based on it. As such there are many colorful illustrations in the book, and this might make it even more fun for a young bunny to look through and read along.

Sprinkles is reading Flatland: A Journey of Many Dimensions - The Movie Edition by Edwin A. Abbott, with Thomas Banchoff and the Filmmakers of Flatland. — Sprinkles is reading *Flatland: A Journey of Many Dimensions – The Movie Edition* by Edwin A. Abbott, with Thomas Banchoff and the Filmmakers of *Flatland*.

Abbott’s original novella is not too long, so it takes about half of this large-format book. The rest of the book is also worth reading however. There is a short introduction by the mathematician Thomas Banchoff at the beginning, which is worth reading to contextualize what is to come. Then the whole text of the classic Flatland follows. After that, the second part of the book starts. This section is titled “Flatland: The Movie” and includes three brief essays (“Finding Flatland” by producer Seth Caplan, “Imagining Flatland” by director Jeffrey Travis, and “The Visual Design of Flatland: the Movie” by director and animator Dano Johnson), lots of colorful images on high-quality paper, and then the screenplay of the whole film.

Trailer of Flatland: The Movie, from YouTube.

The movie is also worth watching, actually, and it seems to be available in a bunch of places, including YouTube. Apparently right around the same time, some other folks made a second movie based on Flatland, so sometimes people get confused, but the book I am talking about here and the trailer above are both related to the shorter movie voiced by actors like Martin Sheen, Kristen Bell and Tony Hale.

All in all, I recommend Flatland very highly; you should read it and you should introduce all the bunnies around you to it. The 2008 edition here is a good place to start, but it is also fine if you choose the movie version first. I should note that the women are not one-dimensional in the movie: the Victorian satire tends to go on the back-burner there, and the math seems to come to the fore. Which is fine by me but your preferences might be different.

Sprinkles enjoyed reading Flatland: A Journey of Many Dimensions - The Movie Edition by Edwin A. Abbott, with Thomas Banchoff and the Filmmakers of Flatland, and recommends it to all bunnies young and old. — Sprinkles enjoyed reading *Flatland: A Journey of Many Dimensions – The Movie Edition* by Edwin A. Abbott, with Thomas Banchoff and the Filmmakers of *Flatland*, and recommends it to all bunnies young and old.

Marshmallow reviews An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

The book bunnies household have learned a boatload of chemistry from Hank Green’s Crash Course Chemistry series on YouTube. So they all were excited to discover that Green had also published a couple of novels way back when. This summer, first Sprinkles, then Caramel, and finally Marshmallow got their paws on the first of these books, and once started, could not put it down until they were done. Today Marshmallow shares with our readers her thoughts on this book, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, first published in 2018.

[Starting this week, we are moving our weekend posts to Sundays. We hope you will continue to follow us with our new schedule.]

Marshmallow reviews An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green. — Marshmallow reviews *An Absolutely Remarkable Thing* by Hank Green.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like science fiction books that are fun, fascinating, and feel almost real, then this is the book for you!

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): April May is an artist. Unfortunately, after going to a private art school, she is now in a lot of debt. Working at a start-up under a very bad contract, April is struggling to find time to make her own art. Her appreciation for true pieces of art is what draws her attention to Carl. While this may sound like the start of a romantic relationship, it is anything but. Carl is a giant, ten-foot-tall, metal sculpture that appears one day on a sidewalk in New York City. Late at night, April walks by it and—thinking that it must be the work of a fellow artist—coerces her friend Andy to record her in a video highlighting how wonderful the piece is, despite the lack of interest from the other passersby. They post this video on YouTube and go to sleep.

The next morning, April and Andy wake up amidst a maelstrom of news. It turns out that sculptures just like Carl (which is the name April used during the video to describe the sculpture in New York) suddenly showed up all over the world; there are sixty four of them in total, all standing perfectly still in plain view on sidewalks in major cities. The news and the Internet are reeling in confusion. Security checks and video surveillance cameras in each area where a Carl appeared went dark for five minutes before the sculptures showed up. The rather impossible, illogical arrival of the Carls leaves the world in need of an explanation.

Since April was the one who “discovered” New York Carl, she becomes somewhat of a celebrity. Soon, she and Andy start raking in thousands from their video and interviews. The attention, especially on social media, is overwhelming, but April’s sort-of girlfriend (Maya) helps her cope, advising her to slow down the speed at which April is exposing herself to the world. But the overwhelming attention is also addictive; to keep it coming, April and Andy hatch a scheme to keep themselves poised as the go-to experts on the Carls. April, Maya, and Andy all met at their art school and are all experts in designing brands. April decides that she will brand herself as the curious, yet calm human person in contrast to the other-worldliness of the Carls. And I mean that literally. Miranda, a material scientist at UC Berkeley, reaches out to April and they realize that the characteristics of the Carls cannot physically exist because there is no existent or create-able material that matches it. The Carls must have come from out of this world!

As April and Miranda work together, they start realizing that there are sequences, or puzzles, that seem to be left by the Carls for humanity to solve together. Many of them are in the Dream, a shared experience that almost every human on the planet starts to have during sleep. The Carls have yet to say a word, yet the world is holding its breath. Driven by ambition, curiosity, and a little bit of arrogance, April May plans to be the one who uncovers why the Carls are here and what they really are.

Marshmallow is reading An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green. — Marshmallow is reading *An Absolutely Remarkable Thing* by Hank Green.

Marshmallow’s Review: This was an absolutely remarkable book (see what I did there?) I would highly recommend An Absolutely Remarkable Thing to all readers to read at some point. However, it is not quite appropriate for young bunnies because it does use a lot of bad words and it does make a lot of references to sexual activity (though, luckily, none is shown!)

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is both intensely entertaining and fast paced, but it also is also very thought-provoking. At the beginning of the book, I did not enjoy Green’s style too much, but I became more accustomed to it later on. His writing is very smooth and the story never has a single lull. The plot is fascinating and literally keeps you hooked until the end. Green builds a world around you and it is very hard to disassociate from it while you are reading. Green makes the book feel so real that there were times I stopped reading and forgot that there are not, indeed, Carls in the real world.

I think Green exceeded all expectations for a first-time writer. He excels in all standard aspects of storytelling, but I think the thing that stood out to me the most was the philosophical part of this book. The main character is definitely not perfect. She is very dis-likable, which I think is a testament to Green’s prowess because one ends up on her side at the end anyways. Every person in this book is so real and flawed and truly human that this could actually take place right now. Part of what I think made this book so realistic was the consistent themes of social media, celebrity, and people’s need for attention. I kept thinking of how much of Green’s own personal experience in the virtual world was reflected in the book.

I was mildly annoyed that An Absolutely Remarkable Thing ends in a cliffhanger because I wanted to know how things really end. Though many of the mysteries were resolved in this volume, there are a lot more that were not. Green wrote this to be the first in a two-part series so I am probably going to have to read the next one too!

April May, the main narrator, is a very honest yet blunt person. But I really liked how, through April, Green managed to make a convincing argument for humanity. I loved how he showcased both the bad and the good of characters and of humanity as a whole. There are a lot of too-real moments that mimic what politics and some industries look like now. I think overall An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is a work of art because it takes every broken, ugly part of humanity and glues it together with the beautiful parts to create something that is glaringly imperfect yet honest and meaningful.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 100%.

Marshmallow rates An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green 100%. — Marshmallow rates *An Absolutely Remarkable Thing* by Hank Green 100%.

Caramel reviews Tiger Honor by Yoon Ha Lee

A while back Marshmallow reviewed Dragon Pearl, a book involving various themes from Korean mythology, written by Yoon Ha Lee. Today Caramel reviews a second book by the same author, Tiger Honor, published in 2022. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, today you wanted to talk about another book with some Asian themes.

Caramel: Yeah, but this one is a novel, and it is called Tiger Honor. It is a really good book.

S: It must be. You read it rather quickly. So what is it about?

C: It is about this person named Sebin who wants to join the Space Forces of the Thousand Worlds and maybe become a captain like their uncle Hwan, but then Hwan is named a traitor. Sebin is shocked of course, but they join the Force nonetheless, hoping that they can perhaps clear their uncle’s name.

S: There is something special about Sebin, right?

C: Yes, they are a tiger spirit, and so you get the ”Tiger” in the title of the book. And their tribe the Juhwang Clan has a strong honor code. Again, that is the second part of the title of the book. Honor is very important to Sebin. Sebin wants to save their family’s honor by clearing Hwan’s name.

S: I see. What is a tiger spirit? Does it become clear in the book?

C: Yeah, it is explained in the first chapter. Sebin is a human but can shapeshift into a tiger and is exceptionally strong.

S: Are there other kinds of spirits in the book?

C: Yes, there are foxes, and ghosts, and I think others, but I’m not sure. But from what I understand these kinds of spirits show up in Korean myths and that is what inspired the author.

Caramel is reading Tiger Honor by Yoon Ha Lee. — Caramel is reading *Tiger Honor* by Yoon Ha Lee.

S: Oh, yes, in the first book of this series, the main character was a fox spirit. In fact, as far as I understand, that character shows up in this book, too. Her name is Min.

C: Hmm, yes, Min does show up. She is an important character here actually. But I did not read that first book.

S: I have not read the book yet, but again from what I understand from everything I read about it, even though Min shows up here, too, and both books involve the Dragon Pearl and the Space Forces of the Thousand Worlds, they are actually independent stories. So I think it is okay that you did not read that one before reading this one.

C: That is good to know. I might still go ahead and read Dragon Pearl at some point though. This world is interesting!

S: Can you tell me more about this world then?

C: Sure, there are mostly human-like people, like the tiger and fox spirits, and some mercenaries.out-of-galaxy mercenaries fighting against the Space Force. There are a lot of planets and civilizations that came together and signed a treaty to form the Thousand Worlds, which is kind of like the United Federation of Planets in Star Trek. And the Space Force is basically Starfleet.

S: Okay, that is cool. It sounds like a neat mixture of science fiction and Korean mythological themes. So then tell us a bit more about what happens in the book.

C: So, Sebin joins the space force, and then the ship they join is sabotaged, and by Uncle Hwan no less. And it gets more and more exciting and a lot messier from there on, but maybe in order to really see this, one should read the book. And it is a good book so it is very much worth it.

S: Sounds like it. So maybe this is a good place to end this review

C: And maybe I should go and read Dragon Pearl next.

S: Makes sense to me. What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading Tiger Honor by Yoon Ha Lee and is considering whether it is time to go and read Dragon Pearl. — Caramel enjoyed reading *Tiger Honor* by Yoon Ha Lee and is considering whether it is time to go and read *Dragon Pearl*.