Tag: space

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Posted in Reviews

Review: Star Stories: Constellation Tales From Around the World by Anita Ganeri & Andy Wilx

Posted on by Jennifer

Star Stories: Constellations Tales From Around the World by Anita Ganeri

Recommended: sure
for children as an entry to global myths and legend and culture in general, for adults who want a gentle into to the same, for lovely art and a physically delightful book to hold

Summary

For thousands of years people have looked up to the night sky and told stories about the stars. These epic tales tell of vengeful gods and goddesses, of monsters and heroes. Others try to make sense of the natural world, or unravel the mysterious forces of the universe. This stunning book brings together a selection of these legends from all over the world – from Ancient Greece to North America, Egypt, China, India and the South Pacific. Written by award-winning author Anita Ganeri and with beautifully detailed artwork by illustrator Andy Wilx, this is a magical book to be treasured for generations to come.

Thoughts

This would be a lovely book for kids probably around 10 or so, as it has exciting and varied stories from around the world, plus wonderful and engaging art. Honestly anyone would probably enjoy this, but it’s definitely a good option for children.

This collection has fairly short and simple versions of each story around a constellation, with stories chosen from around the world. The fact that they are somewhat condensed means that some of the nuance can be missing from them. In exchange, it’s easier to get through several without it dragging or getting bogged down in details. For children, I think that’ll be great, particularly as a nighttime story. It would be easy to re-read favorites.

Continue reading “Review: Star Stories: Constellation Tales From Around the World by Anita Ganeri & Andy Wilx” →
Posted in Release Day!

Just Published: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini!

Posted on by Jennifer

Hey y’all! Just a reminder that To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini (🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟) released today! Grab your own copy at Book Depository or check out the full review here!

Recommended: yessss
for big book aficionados, for a story that takes its time in unfolding, for a plot that weaves in and out and around until you’re entirely surrounded in it, for adult Paolini goodness that shows how much he’s grown as an author

Summary:
During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she’s delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move.

As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn’t at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human.

While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity’s greatest and final hope . . .

A picture of a hand giving a thumbs up. The hand is made of words, and the words "book review" are in pink in the middle, with all the other words in black
Posted in Reviews

Review: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

Posted on by Jennifer

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini – 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Expected Release: September 15, 2020
And I don’t usually read space stories.

And this one was everything I’d hoped and more!!!

Recommended: yessss
for big book aficionados, for a story that takes its time in unfolding, for a plot that weaves in and out and around until you’re entirely surrounded in it, for adult Paolini goodness that shows how much he’s grown as an author

Summary:
During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she’s delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move.

As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn’t at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human.

While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity’s greatest and final hope . . .

Thoughts:
The elephant in the room is actually the book itself, because it’s about as big as an elephant. It’s about 820 pages of story, with another 50 or so pages of addenda at the end. Yes, if you decide to commit to this book, you need to really be ready to commit to this book.

And the obvious followup question is if it’s worth it. To that, I would say definitely yes, but there will probably be times when reading where it doesn’t feel it. This was a strange experience where every time I read the book, I loved it and couldn’t wait for more. But in between sessions, I almost grimaced at the thought of picking it back up again because I had been reading it for so long already! I think this is ultimately a personal issue, which I navigated by reading a few shorter books of other genres during the month-ish time that I tackled TSIASOS. If you’re the same, have a plan going in.

Continue reading “Review: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini” →
Posted in Book Talk, Chatty

Poems from space: odes to TO SLEEP IN A SEA OF STARS

Posted on by Jennifer

if you’re wondering
where Eragon’s author went:
floating in the stars

yes, I mean, it’s true
everyone has a story
but Kira’s is best

aboard the Wallfish
you learn to love a stranger
become family

complex math, research
thorough realism of space
dude did some good work

so good it made me
cry, dream, hope, savor, tense up —
wouldn’t change a thing.

Continue reading “Poems from space: odes to TO SLEEP IN A SEA OF STARS” →
Posted in Book Talk, Chatty

To Sleep In A Sea Of Stars v. Battlestar Galactica

Posted on by Jennifer

I’m currently reading To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini (advanced copy, praise the stars! Release date on September 15, 2020). I’m also currently watching Battlestar Galactica for the first time. And since they are both, at their simplest, space stories about fighting/fleeing other life forms, there’s a lot that’s similar between the two.

And I keep getting them mixed up.

This isn’t really a bad thing! It just gets confusing when I try to remember where I left off when I resume either of them. I’ll read some Sea of Stars and then watch some B.G. that night and before beginning an episode think, Okay, so last episode was where they were in an unknown system searching a planet for something, and then the bad guys showed up…. wait…. was that in the book or the show???

Luckily the show has a recap before each episode. 😂

Also, that example sentence above is 100% real and 100% accurate for both the book and the show, at the moment! So while moments like that can get kind of muddled, it’s also really fun to see the similarities between them on a larger scale! Below are some that I’ve noticed, with no spoilers for the book, I promise everything I reference is known early on or even in the blurb or general enough to be obvious. Even their covers look similar!

  • both are in the middle of wars with other life forms — and losing, badly
  • both have to make constant FTL jumps to try and evade their pursuers, often with tricky recalculating tactics
  • flash tracing is a concern in both (basically when they make a fast than light jump and their pursuers make on in the opposite direction then watch through a telescope once the light from the event reaches them to see where the first group were pointed when they jumped. science!)
  • both have pretty crazy alien life, that is way more tech advanced than humans (but like, when aren’t aliens way more advanced)
  • and, in general, both are facing a lot of issues and having a pretty tough time of things

And, the most obvious similarity: both are FANTASTIC! Sometimes it can take some doing for me to get really interested in space stories, but each of these has done a stunning job. They’re complex and exciting and intellectual and so, so good. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go spend some time with…. one of them, I’ll have to decide! 😁

Posted in A Picture's Worth

A Picture’s Worth: Vampiric Memories & Jellyfish Aliens

Posted on by Jennifer

Words have always carried more weight with me than images – give me a book over its movie any day – but I do love to see the beautiful images other people create when they’re in love with a book. That’s not my strength, but I can certainly appreciate it in others! So here’s a few of my faves based on what I’ve been reading recently.

To Sleep In A Sea Of Stars

I’ve been ranting about how excited I was to get this ARC for a while now, and I don’t expect to stop for a while on yet! Christopher Paolini’s book outside of the Inheritance world is just as epic, but in space this time. Science is the magic TSIASOS (that is a rough acronym. Will keep working on a way to abbreviate this title. Stay tuned.).

This one is mine, because the second I got this ARC in the mail I danced around the kitchen squealing and clutching it to my chest, and then went outside to read and take some gorgeous photos of this gorgeous book on a gorgeous day. Check out my insta for a few more — because this book is so pretty and startlingly gigantic.

You really just can’t go wrong with the simple and gorgeous display of book + flowers. Especially when the cover is this stunning on it’s own. I know. I’m not going to shut up about it. *swoon*

Continue reading “A Picture’s Worth: Vampiric Memories & Jellyfish Aliens” →
Posted in Book Talk, Chatty

OMG AM I EXCITED, aka my fav ARC everrrr

Posted on by Jennifer

Hey y’all! I happened to get particularly lucky with s chance to get an advanced reader copy of a book that made stars pop into my eyes the second I saw it was coming out. So what is this magical amazing book?

Hint #1: it has three appendices, including an appendix of terms and one about the physics in the book, and that’s how you know an author is super serious

Hint #2: it’s an absolute beast at almost a thousand pages long

Continue reading “OMG AM I EXCITED, aka my fav ARC everrrr” →