How I Met Your Father Review: 2x03 "The Reset Button"

 This video is largely focused around dates, but first, we get an interesting tidbit from future Sophie. She tells her son that she will have kissed all her friends by the time she's 40. That's not largely surprising considering that the show will want to keep everyone guessing about who the father is, but it's interesting nonetheless.

She also refers to Ellen as Aunt Ellen when talking to her son. That doesn't really mean anything. Ted's referred to Lily and Robin as their aunts in How I Met Your Mother, so Sophie's son could be doing the same even if Ellen isn't technically his aunt, but it's interesting all the same. (Something about his "Even Aunt Ellen?" when it could just have been "Even Aunt Valentina?" does strike me as a bit curious though.)

Towards the start of the episode, Valentina invites herself along on a date with Ellen and Rachel. Valentina's date ends up being a man with an emoji for a face who doesn't talk the whole time, which was a bit amusing.

Valentina and Rachel fight before then bonding over talking about Ellen's flaws, which I didn't love. It's pretty cruel to start going on about how annoyed someone makes you like that. She and Rachel haven't even been together that long, so the fact that she's talking about Ellen like that to her friend didn't feel so great. 

Towards the end of the episode, Sophie also mentions that Rachel, Ellen, and Valentina would never hang out as a trio again. That makes me think Ellen and Rachel aren't going to hang out again. If Rachel was sticking around for a while, I don't think the show would make such a definitive statement, since who knows what would end up happening in the future. I'm kind of hoping the way Rachel talks about Ellen will be part of what leads to their break up.

Meanwhile, Charlie finds a date because he's jealous of Valentina. He recruits Hannah and Sid to come with him, and they spend the entire time trying to get airline miles off of the date, which Hannah does end up successfully doing.

The date goes disastrously for Charlie, and it doesn't seem like he'll go on a date again anytime soon. When Sophie and Valentina are talking, Valentina even declares that she and Charlie will be together one day and that she's not worried about him finding someone. However, he does, in fact, meet someone who I assume will be significant at the end of the episode.

I do think that the show will eventually pair Valentina and Charlie together, even if it's not happening right now, but I'm curious to see how this new relationship for Charlie goes.

While all their friends are on dates, Sophie and Jesse have dinner with the couple who bought Sophie's picture. Jesse is worried about them being rich people, but it turns out that the bigger problem is that the husband is some kind of men's rights influencer person. I'm kind of surprised the show went there. Of course, everything is played as comedy, but I have to say that the wife in this episode is just really sad. I'm assuming we'll never see her again, but I sure hope that somewhere out there in fictional land she gets some help.

They do end up giving Sophie and Jesse the picture back, which is great, but Sophie ends up losing the picture when a taxi drives off with it. Somehow, she'll apparently get it back, but I feel like that's a story that won't come for a while.

Book Review: Network Effect (Murderbot Diaries #5) by Martha Wells

Published: May 5, 2020
Publisher: Tor.com
Received: Christmas present
Read from January 15 to February 4, 2023
Synopsis from Goodreads:

Murderbot returns in its highly anticipated, first, full-length standalone novel.

You know that feeling when you’re at work, and you’ve had enough of people, and then the boss walks in with yet another job that needs to be done right this second or the world will end, but all you want to do is go home and binge your favorite shows? And you're a sentient murder machine programmed for destruction? Congratulations, you're Murderbot.

Come for the pew-pew space battles, stay for the most relatable A.I. you’ll read this century.

—

I’m usually alone in my head, and that’s where 90 plus percent of my problems are.

When Murderbot's human associates (not friends, never friends) are captured and another not-friend from its past requires urgent assistance, Murderbot must choose between inertia and drastic action.

Drastic action it is, then.

Review:

Network Effect is the fifth installment of The Murderbot Diaries (if you don't count the short stories), but it's the first novel. I was interested to see how that would change things. The novellas are quick reads where everything happens too fast to be dwelled on for long. Sure enough, the novel did give the story time to really dig deeper than it had before.

While I loved the novellas, the length of the novel did have me fully sucked into the story in a way that novellas didn't manage. By the second half of the book, I didn't want to put it down. I spent the entire time trying to work out all the answers, and it was one of those satisfying books where I didn't completely figure it out until Murderbot did. But once I did figure it out, everything snapped into place.

I'm also more attached to the characters than I was before, and that's saying something. The novel brought the return of all of my favorite characters from the series, from Dr. Mensah to ART. We even get to see a number of them interact with each other for the first time, which was so much fun! 

ART in particular felt more fleshed out in the novel than in the previous novella it appeared in. We learn a lot more about it and what it's capable of. Murderbot, too, goes through more character development in this book than possibly all the previous novellas combined (though there absolutely was character development in the novellas). There was just so much in this novel that I don't think could have been done in a novella, and I loved every second of it.

What I want to say next will involve spoilers, so stop reading here if you don't want to see.

Along with seeing old characters, we also meet some new ones. We meet ART's crew, who all seem lovely. But the character I'm move intrigued by is a SecUnit whose governor module Murderbot 2.0 helps override.

This was something that I was curious to see, so I was very excited. I can easily imagine how confused they are. While I have no idea what they'll do next, I'm hoping we see them again at some point.

The ending had me on the edge of my seat wanting to know what happens next. I'd love another story that centers around ART, and it sounds like we could definitely be getting that. At the same time, I'd miss the Preservation characters just like Murderbot would. I wish there was a way for them to all be in every story, but obviously, I recognize that that's not going to happen.

I still have one novella that's out, but from what I understand it's a prequel that takes place before the novel. So we still have to wait and see about what comes next for Murderbot technically.

How I Met Your Father Review: 2x02 "Midwife Crisis"

 A lot of this episode centers around Meredith. Sophie meets her for the first time, and there's a lot of tension between her and Sid.

During season one, I talked about having complicated feelings towards Meredith. She gets a lot of flak for rejecting Jesse's proposal that I don't think is warranted. That scenario is the exact reason why you shouldn't propose publicly unless it's something that you've already discussed. I hate the idea that she should have said yes just to spare Jesse's feelings or something.

Now, in season two, we're continuing to learn about more legitimate reasons not to like her, and I just wish that the proposal wasn't presented as the first sign that Meredith wasn't a great person when that one really wasn't her fault.

Sid is refusing to get along with Meredith, and he makes a big deal about her eating his burrito once. At the end of the episode, we find out that the real problem is actually that he heard she faked being sick to avoid going to Jesse's recital, which seemed rather obvious from the beginning.

I'm actually a little frustrated that Sid doesn't mention it. That absolutely feels like something you should tell your best friend. I get not wanting to hurt Jesse's feelings, but him not knowing the full story will only make things worse in the long run.

Ellen's love life seems to be going a little better than Jesse's. She and Charlie throw a party to try to get Rachel to talk to Ellen. It seems like it's been a disaster, but then it turns out that they've both just been nervous about talking to the other. I thought they were cute this episode, and I thought it was hilarous that Charlie and everyone at the party was listening in on them agreeing to a date.

While all of that is happening, Sophie is meant to take pictures of a home birth. When the midwife gets stuck on a tram, Sophie and Valentina end up having to deliver the baby. It seems to get Sophie and Valentina on a high, and Sophie is even more excited when, at the very end of the episode, she learns that her photo sold.

I'm curious to see what happens now that the photo has sold and what it means for Sophie's story.

How I Met Your Father Review: 2x01 "Cool and Chill"

I'll be honest with you, I almost didn't realize that How I Met Your Father's season two started this week. It was by chance that I saw (or heard) and ad for it while listening to Spotify. I definitely would have realized eventually though.

While I did enjoy season one well enough, I wasn't eagerly awaiting season two, but I am invested enough that I'm going to keep watching until the end, whenever that may be.

The episode starts off with Sophie agreeing to go on a date with Ian, but she lies to him that she has nothing going on romantically, which goes disastrously wrong. By the end of the episode, Ian has left, and it seems like he might not be coming back. At least not any time soon. I am curious about that. It feels like a let down to have him show up at the end of the last season as a cliffhanger and then immediately have him gone after the first episode. But I guess we'll see.

Drew also shows up at the bar, and he is by far the funniest character in this episode I think. I'm curious how much he'll be around this season.

Most of the episode takes place at Sid's bar where they're throwing a wedding party for Sid and Hannah. The newlyweds are absolutely adorable in this episode. I'm scared of potential drama coming up for them later, but I've started hoping that they're the series Lily and Marshall and will be fine.

At the end of the episode, we get a flash forward to later in the season. Sophie is frantically calling her mom saying that she thinks she was on a date with her dad, and she winds up hitting Barney's car. We got a Robin cameo last season, but I really wasn't expecting that. I've seen speculation of Barney being Sophie's dad, and I could see it. (Though it means she wasn't actually on a date with her dad, which would be a good thing.)

I'm really curious to see how that will play out. That's probably what I'm most interested in seeing at this point.

Book Review: This Winter by Alice Oseman

Published: November 5, 2015
Publisher: HarperCollin's Children's Books
Received: purchased
Read on January 15, 2023
Synopsis from Goodreads:

A short story, based on characters from Solitaire – praised as ‘The Catcher in the Rye for the digital age’ The Times

I used to think that difficult was better than boring, but I know better now…

I’m not going to think about the past few months, about Charlie and me, and all of the sad. I’m going to block it all out. Just for today.

"Happy Christmas, " I say.

The festive season isn't always happy for Tori and her brother Charlie. And this year's going to be harder than most.

Review:

This Winter is the second novella set within the same world as Solitaire and Heartstopper. It takes place over the Christmas before the Solitaire novel and during the timeline of the Heartstopper comics/graphic novels.

The story is told in three points of view: Tori's, Charlie's, and Oliver's. It was nice getting to see all three of the Spring siblings' view of the day. While we get Tori's point of view in Solitaire and Charlie's in Heartstopper and Nick and Charlie, it's the only book I'm aware of where Oliver gets his own part, which is completely understandable considering how young he is. It was somehow both heartwarming and sad how Oliver managed to both be oblivious to a lot of what was going on and also very perceptive at the same time.

Honestly, both Tori and Charlie talk a lot about how they can't believe they're related to Oliver because he's so much more cheerful than them, but a lot of that does seem to be his age. Not that I'm wishing depression on Oliver when he's older or anything, but he does have a pretty typical outlook on life for a kid his age.

Oliver's POV was a good place to end the story because, despite when it takes place, This Winter does not have the overly cheerful tone you typically expect with Christmas stories. Neither Tori or Charlie are in particularly good places, something that's not remotely shocking to anyone who reads Solitaire or Heartstopper before picking This Winter up.

Despite that, This Winter does manage to have that hopeful tone that Alice Oseman is really good at even when bad things are happening in a story. While things aren't easy, you know they will be okay.

I really enjoyed getting a look at the Spring siblings' relationship with each other. We do get that to a certain extent in Solitaire and Heartstopper, but it was a particularly big focus in This Winter, and it was nice to see. I also really loved Nick's family's reaction to meeting Charlie.

This was a quick read that I loved.

Book Review: Exit Strategy by Martha Wells (Murderbot Diaries #4)

Published: October 18, 2018
Publisher: Tor.com
Received: Christmas present
Read from December 30, 2022 to January 11, 2023
Synopsis from Goodreads:

Murderbot wasn’t programmed to care. So, its decision to help the only human who ever showed it respect must be a system glitch, right?

Having traveled the width of the galaxy to unearth details of its own murderous transgressions, as well as those of the GrayCris Corporation, Murderbot is heading home to help Dr. Mensah—its former owner (protector? friend?)—submit evidence that could prevent GrayCris from destroying more colonists in its never-ending quest for profit.

But who’s going to believe a SecUnit gone rogue?

And what will become of it when it’s caught?

Review:

Exit Strategy is the fourth book in the Murderbot Diaries series and possibly my favorite one yet.

After getting a new set of characters in each book, we finally get to see some of the characters from the first book again! It was really great seeing them and finding out a bit about what's been happening with them, especially Dr. Mensah. Aside from Murderbot, Mensah is probably my favorite character.

This book also seemed particularly focused on Murderbot's character development. That's something that's been part of every book, but it was up front and center in this one. Murderbot's perspective on humans is definitely evolving, and that's very apparent in this one.

Exit Strategy has left me eager to dive into the fifth book. The next one is also a novel instead of a novella, so I'm excited to see how much Murderbot can get up to in a longer book.

Book Review: The Dawn of Yangchen by F.C. Yee

Published: July 19, 2022
Publisher: Amulet Books
Received: purchased
Read from August 29, 2022 to January 10, 2023

Synopsis from Goodreads:

From the New York Times bestselling author of Avatar, the Last Airbender: The Rise of Kyoshi and Avatar, the Last Airbender: The Shadow of Kyoshi comes a thrilling new chapter in the Chronicles of the Avatar series

Yangchen’s inexperience may prove to be her greatest asset . . .

Plagued by the voices of Avatars before her for as long as she can remember, Yangchen has not yet earned the respect felt for Avatar Szeto, her predecessor. In an era where loyalty is bought rather than earned, she has little reason to trust her counsel. When Yangchen travels to Bin-Er in the Earth Kingdom on political business, a chance encounter with an informant named Kavik leads to a wary partnership. Bin-Er is a city ruled by corrupt shang merchants who have become resentful of the mercurial Earth King and his whims. To extract themselves from his influence, the shangs have one solution in mind: a mysterious weapon of mass destruction that would place power squarely in their hands. As Yangchen and Kavik seek to thwart the shangs’ plan, their unlikely friendship deepens. But for Yangchen to chart her course as a singularly powerful Avatar, she must learn to rely on her own wisdom above all else.

This propulsive third installment in the Chronicles of the Avatar series illuminates Avatar Yangchen’s journey from uncertain young woman to revered leader.

Review:

The Dawn of Yangchen is the third Avatar Chronicles book but the first to follow Yangchen instead of Kyoshi. I was curious how this one would be different and how similar it would feel to the other books.

Like the Kyoshi novels, The Dawn of Yangchen had an eclectic cast of characters. I was expecting the book to be mostly in Yangchen's point of view, just like the Kyoshi novels were mostly in Kyoshi's. Instead, quite a bit of the book is in Kavik's. Having finished the book, I feel like I learned more about Kavik than Yangchen, which isn't to say that I didn't learn anything about Yangchen at all, but Kavik felt more like the main character in many ways.

That might be part of the reason why I don't feel as drawn to Yangchen as I did Kyoshi. I do like her, but I'm not invested in her story quite as much. That could also have to do with other aspects of her characterization. At the beginning, you learn that Yangchen has memories from past Avatars even as a young child, while most Avatars don't develop the ability to communicate with their past lives until they're older. The fact that Yangchen had all of this knowledge at her disposal from the beginning of the story made her feel larger than life in a way that Kyoshi or even Aang or Korra didn't, and that also might be part of the reason I didn't connect with her in the same way. She felt more like a fully realized Avatar than the other young Avatars we've followed.

Having Kavik be a point of view character does help counteract that in some ways, since he has had a very different life from Yangchen, but his choices at various points in the book left me so frustrated that I'm honestly not sure how I feel about him at this point.

In the Kyoshi novels, Yangchen was built up as a great figure, so it was nice to have that image complicated a bit in this book. Despite everything I said about finding it hard to connect with her, Yangchen does have flaws, and I appreciated getting to see them.

Avatar Szeto does continue to be built up as an impressive Avatar in this book though, just like he was in the Kyoshi novels. I'm wondering if we'll be getting books about him after Yangchen, so then we can then see him become more humanized as well.

One thing I appreciate about the Avatar Chronicles books (and the Avatar franchise in general) is that each Avatar's story feels like it's taking place in a world that really is changing over time. Yangchen's world is extremely different from Kyoshi's to an extent that a lot of it is unrecognizable. It gives a sense of realism as you feel like you really are going back in time from Kyoshi's story, from Aangi's story, etc. It was like I was learning a whole new set of rules about how the world worked. It was similar to how it feels when reading historical fiction about our world. Some thing may be the same, but so many things are different.

With the way things left off in this book, I am curious about how things will go next. I don't think I'm quite as invested as I was in Kyoshi's story yet, but I could see myself getting more into the story in a second book. We'll see.

Book Review: Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman

Publisher: July 16, 2015

Publisher: HarperCollin's Children's Books
Received: purchased
Read from December 23, 2022 to January 8, 2023
Synopsis from Goodreads:

CHARLIE: “I have been going out with Nick Nelson for two years. He likes rugby, Formula 1, dogs, the Marvel universe, the sound felt-tips make on paper, rain and drawing on shoes. He also likes me.”

NICK: “Things me and Charlie Spring do together include: Watch films. Sit in the same room on different laptops. Text each other from different rooms. Make out. Make food. Make drinks. Get drunk. Talk. Argue. Laugh. Maybe we're kind of boring. But that’s fine with us.”

Everyone knows that Nick and Charlie are the perfect couple – that they’re inseparable. But now Nick is leaving for university, and Charlie will be left behind at Sixth Form. Everyone’s asking if they’re staying together, which is a stupid question – they’re ‘Nick and Charlie’, for God’s sake!

But as the time to say goodbye gets inevitably closer, both Nick and Charlie question whether their love is strong enough to survive being apart. Or are they delaying the inevitable? Because everyone knows that first loves rarely last forever…

Review:

Originally written as a novella that follows Solitaire, Nick and Charlie is set within the Osemanverse, the world Alice Oseman has created that includes Heartstopper. It takes place one year after Solitaire and two years after the first volume of Heartstopper. Nick is about to leave for university, and it deals with Charlie's and Nick's feelings over becoming long distance while he's away.

 At only six chapters, this is a short book that's very easy to read. While it's emotional, since Nick and Charlie are dealing with a lot, I highly enjoyed the story. It was nice getting a glimpse of their relationship at this point in time, and it was especially fun that Alice Oseman posted a mini-comic of when they're both in university while I was reading the novella.

I truly do love this world so much, and I love how many different stories we have from it. When I start reading the novels that completely focus on other characters, it will be a little bittersweet, but I'm sure I'll enjoy them all the same. I just really love the characters that Oseman creates.

Before I get to those books with those other characters though, I have one more novella to read that follows Tori, Charlie, and Oliver. I've heard this one is potentially sadder in tone than Nick and Charlie, but I'm still looking forward to reading it.

Strange World Review

I knew I wanted to watch Strange World because it was a Disney movie, but I knew nothing about it going in. I hadn't even seen a trailer. Other than some promotional materials, I had no idea what I was getting into, but I'm really glad I watched it because it turned out to be a lot of fun.

Strange World takes place in a fantasy world where people live surrounded by tall mountains that they can't get past. Twenty-five years before the story starts, Searcher discovers a plant called Pando, which ultimately gives them electricity and powers all of their technology. In the present, the Pando starts dying, and the characters are forced to go find the heart of Pando in order to save it, which ends up leading them underground.

The story definitely reminded me of Journey to the Center of the Earth except more fun. (I'm not a big fan of Journey to the Center of the Earth.) Aside from a group of people travelling underground and discovering a new world there, though, the stories are actually quite different.

Both worlds in the movie were intriguing. It's a shame that we don't spend more time above ground in the movie because I would have enjoyed seeing more of what things are like.

But, of course, the underground world was also incredible. I loved the aesthetics of everything and all the different creatures that managed to be strange yet adorable at the same time.

The human characters were also wonderful. There was a diverse set of characters, including Ethan who is the first queer main character in a Disney movie. I loved how unique everyone was and their relationships with each other. While the universe of the movie was fun, it was definitely the characters that made the movie for me.

The rest of what I have to say will deal with spoilers, so proceed with caution!

First, I have to talk about the line Ethan has when playing his game with his dad and grandfather. He says that the game doesn't have any bad guys, and his dad and grandfather mock it.

As soon as that exchange happened, I knew it was about the movie and that there wasn't a villain, which meant I was waiting to find out why the reapers weren't actually doing anything bad. The exchange did feel a little heavy handed, I have to admit.

Also, it turns out that the whole world is on top of/inside a giant turtle thing, and I couldn't help but think of the Lion Turtle from Avatar. In Legend of Korra, there are even people living on the Lion Turtles like there are in Strange World, though I think the Avatar versions are actually smaller than this one.

Of course, the idea of a turtle with a world on its back isn't unique to Avatar. It exists in stories from several different cultures. But I couldn't help but be reminded of it.

Overall, I really enjoyed Strange World. It was probably my favorite Disney movie in a while. It's one that I'm sure I'll rewatch.

Book Review: Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

Published: June 1, 2017
Publisher: Bloomsbury Circus
Received: purchased
Read from November 28, 2022 to January 7, 2023

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In 2014, award-winning journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge wrote about her frustration with the way that discussions of race and racism in Britain were being led by those who weren't affected by it. She posted a piece on her blog, entitled: 'Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race' that led to this book.

Exploring issues from eradicated black history to the political purpose of white dominance, whitewashed feminism to the inextricable link between class and race, Reni Eddo-Lodge offers a timely and essential new framework for how to see, acknowledge and counter racism. It is a searing, illuminating, absolutely necessary exploration of what it is to be a person of colour in Britain today.

Review:

Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race is one of those books that I'd been hearing about for years. I even remember when Eddo-Lodge's initial blog post when viral and the discussion that surrounded that. So I was excited to actually read the book.

One thing I appreciated about the book is that it was written from a British perspective. Most of the books I've read about race were written by an American. There are a few exceptions to that, such as Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad. (Saad was born in the UK and now lives in the Middle East.) But it was really great to get a perspective that was very focused on the UK. While I did know some of the historical perspective that was talked about, I definitely knew far less than I do about racism in American history.

Eddo-Lodge mentions in the book that many British people see racism as an American problem, not a British one, so I feel like this book plays an especially important role in breaking down that misconception.

It's also written in a style that's very easy to read. While it's dealing with difficult topics, it's very accessible and easy to understand, even if it may include things that certain people don't want to hear.

This is a book that I would highly recommend to anyone. I think it's especially great for people who want a British perspective on racism.

Book Review: The Yield by Tara June Winch

Published: July 2, 2019
Publisher: HarperVia
Received: purchased
Read from August 13, 2022 to January 4, 2023
Synopsis from Goodreads:

Knowing that he will soon die, Albert ‘Poppy’ Gondiwindi takes pen to paper. His life has been spent on the banks of the Murrumby River at Prosperous House, on Massacre Plains. Albert is determined to pass on the language of his people and everything that was ever remembered. He finds the words on the wind.

August Gondiwindi has been living on the other side of the world for ten years when she learns of her grandfather’s death. She returns home for his burial, wracked with grief and burdened with all she tried to leave behind. Her homecoming is bittersweet as she confronts the love of her kin and news that Prosperous is to be repossessed by a mining company. Determined to make amends she endeavours to save their land – a quest that leads her to the voice of her grandfather and into the past, the stories of her people, the secrets of the river.

Profoundly moving and exquisitely written, Tara June Winch’s The Yield is the story of a people and a culture dispossessed. But it is as much a celebration of what was and what endures, and a powerful reclaiming of Indigenous language, storytelling and identity.

Review:

The Yield was one of the picks for the Branching Out Book Club, but I didn't manage to finish the book until long after the reading period had ended. The story is about August, who moved to France to escape her hometown in Australia. When she was a child, August's sister went missing, and memories of her sister haunt August when she returns to her hometown for her grandfather's funeral. She also learns that a mine is going to be opened, which means that they'll tear down her childhood home.

My favorite part of the story was the setting. I've read very few books set in Australia. Actually, it's possible that I've never read a book set in Australia. August grew up in a house that was formerly a mission set up by a Lutheran priest, and there's a lot of discussion about the colonization of Australia, particularly through a letter written by said priest, which is interspersed throughout the story. I found the letter more interesting that August's story itself.

For me, August's story felt slow, and I wasn't very motivated to pick up the book, which is part of what took me so long to finish it. The story is also quite dark because of the subject matter, so it was far from a light and cheerful read.

Still, I appreciated getting to read a story from a different perspective than I ever had before.

Book Review: Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells (Murderbot Diaries #3)

Publisher: Tor.com
Published: August 7, 2018
Received: purchased
Read from November 14 to December 27, 2022
Synopsis from Goodreads:

SciFi’s favorite antisocial A.I. is again on a mission. The case against the too-big-to-fail GrayCris Corporation is floundering, and more importantly, authorities are beginning to ask more questions about where Dr. Mensah’s SecUnit is.

And Murderbot would rather those questions went away. For good.

Review:

Rogue Protocol is the third novella in the Murderbot Diaries series. In this one, Murderbot is investigating GrayCris and winds up helping a group of humans (and a bot) who are also investigating a terraforming facility that was run by GrayCris.

Like the last book, this one was filled with completely new characters except for Murderbot itself. I do enjoy getting a diverse look of the sorts of people that live in this universe, but I have a hard time getting invested in many of the characters because I know they'll be gone come the next book. Though part of why I don't feel closer to them might also be the way in which the story is told. Murderbot is keeping its distance from the humans in this book too. Murderbot is always doing that, but in this one, it felt like Murderbot interacted with the human characters even less than in the last book. That's just my perception though and isn't necessarily true.

Similar to how Murderbot formed a close-ish relationship with ART in the last book, it becomes closer to Miki (a bot) than any of the humans in this book, and I also found myself being drawn to Miki more than any of the human characters.

Miki challenges a lot of Murderbot's beliefs about relationships between humans and bots as Miki thinks of the humans it travels with as friends while Murderbot thinks of them as owners. Murderbot is pretty judgmental of Miki at the start and views Miki has naïve for viewing humans as friends, but Murderbot's own views are challenged by the end of the story.

I imagine this is going to continue to shape Murderbot's view of the world, including its own relationships with humans that it has or will encounter. I'm excited for that. Murderbot seeing Miki's relationship with its friends was my favorite part of this book.

Rogue Protocol was a fun book, and I enjoyed going on another adventure with Murderbot. At the same time, I'm really missing the characters from the first book and ART from the second book.

It looks like Mensah will make another appearance in the next book, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Book Review: Solitaire by Alice Oseman

Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books UK
Published: July 31, 2014
Received: purchased
Read from June 13 to December 20, 2022
Synopsis from Goodreads: 

In case you’re wondering, this is not a love story.

My name is Tori Spring. I like to sleep and I like to blog. Last year – before all that stuff with Charlie and before I had to face the harsh realities of A-Levels and university applications and the fact that one day I really will have to start talking to people – I had friends. Things were very different, I guess, but that’s all over now.

Now there’s Solitaire. And Michael Holden.

I don’t know what Solitaire are trying to do, and I don’t care about Michael Holden.

I really don’t.

This incredible debut novel by outstanding young author Alice Oseman is perfect for fans of John Green, Rainbow Rowell and all unflinchingly honest writers.

Review:

Since Heartstopper was released on Netflix earlier this year, I've watched it too many times to keep count. I've fallen absolutely in love, so of course I wanted to read the comics and Alice Oseman's other books. The comics are available for free online, so I read the whole thing while waiting for the books to arrive in the mail. (When the physical copies arrived, I immediately started reading Solitaire, so I actually haven't gotten a chance to read the physical copies of the comics yet either.)

While the Heartstopper TV show is based on the comics, not Solitaire, Solitaire is set in the same universe. All of Oseman's books are, but from what I know, Solitaire is the book most closely tied to Heartstopper. It follows Tori, the older sister of Charlie in Heartstopper. It also takes place a year after Heartstopper volume/season 1 even though the book itself came out earlier. It was actually the first book that Alice Oseman published.

That fact was evident while reading. The tone of the book does feel like it was written by someone younger. I believe Oseman published the book while they were in university. It does show but not necessarily in a bad way. The teen voice of the book felt very authentic. I could totally believe that Tori would view the world the way she did even when I, as an adult, felt frustrated with her at various points throughout the story.

Despite sometimes feeling annoyed with Tori, I do think she was well written. All of the characters were. I could easily imagine them fitting in with my classmates back in high school. They felt like real teenagers. To the point that some of them were downright infuriating, like Becky. I'm still trying to make myself feel sympathy for Becky purely because I knew what it's like to be a  teenager, but I have to admit that it's hard.

Tori and Becky's friendship was one of many aspects of the book that felt incredibly realistic though, and I appreciated the way it was written.

The standout character was absolutely Michael Holden. I'd heard about him before reading the book from other Heartstopper fans, and there are little glimpses of him in later installments of Heartstopper. I figured I would like him, and I was right. In some ways, he felt like a manic pixie dream girl except he was a guy, and I feel like this might have been done on purpose, especially since there's a reference to manic pixie dream girls in the book.

I just loved the way he was portrayed. I would absolutely read an entire book about Michael. Even though we learn he's not always as bright and cheerful as he seems, he did feel like a bit of lightheartedness that was otherwise lacking throughout the beginning and middle of the book.

One thing I heard about Solitaire before I read it was that it was darker than Heartstopper, after reading the book and also all of Heartstopper that's been released, I get that view but also didn't entirely feel the same way. There are a lot of mental health issues dealt with in Solitaire. It absolutely does get dark in places, but later volumes of Heartstopper (beyond what's been adapted on the TV show) also deal with similar issues. While I do think that Solitaire leaned into that darkness a bit more, the book honestly wasn't as dark as I suspected after hearing others talk about it. While Heartstopper does have a light tone overall, it also deals with some dark stuff in a serious way, and I was expecting Solitaire to be darker than it is from the discourse I'd heard about it.

While I do think Heartstopper is a story that I'll revisit more because it is more light-hearted at the end of the day, I still enjoyed Solitaire, and I'm looking forward to reading Alice Oseman's other books. Though they take place in the same general universe, they're not as closely tied to Heartstopper and Solitaire from what I've heard. Still, I'm looking forward to seeing more of that world, and I also look forward to how Oseman's writing style has grown over the years since Solitaire was published.

Book Review: Tears We Cannot Stop by Michael Eric Dyson

Published: January 17, 2017
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Received: purchased
Read from September 14 to November 20, 2022

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Short, emotional, literary, powerful―Tears We Cannot Stop is the book that all Americans who care about the current and long-burning crisis in race relations will want to read.

As the country grapples with racist division at a level not seen since the 1960s, one man's voice soars above the rest with conviction and compassion. In his 2016 New York Times op-ed piece "Death in Black and White," Michael Eric Dyson moved a nation. Now he continues to speak out in Tears We Cannot Stop―a provocative and deeply personal call for change. Dyson argues that if we are to make real racial progress we must face difficult truths, including being honest about how black grievance has been ignored, dismissed, or discounted.

The time is at hand for reckoning with the past, recognizing the truth of the present, and moving together to redeem the nation for our future. If we don't act now, if you don't address race immediately, there very well may be no future.

Review:

Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America is essentially what the subtitle says. Dyson has written a sermon directed at white Americans about racism in the US that calls for a shift in how white Americans view race and their role in ending racism.

The sermon format was perfect for the material in the book. Dyson is an ordained minister who I'm sure has written countless formats, and he's very skilled at it. The language of sermons worked perfectly for the topics discussed in the book. This is definitely a work that appeals to your emotions rather than giving hard facts, but that doesn't make it any less successful at what it's trying to do. Dyson shares many of his own experiences in the book, which gives it a very personal feeling that makes it even more powerful.

The whole book is gripping in a way that's less common in nonfiction than it is in fiction (in my experience). I would highly recommend the book, particularly to other white people.

Andor 1x12 "Rix Road" Review

The season finale of Andor has to be my favorite episode of the series so far. A lot happens, and the individual stories happening wound back to each other in a way that felt satisfying but also left a lot open to explore in the future.

Cassian goes back to Ferrix for Maarva's funeral. It felt good to see him reconnect with some of his fiends even though it was under terrible circumstances. I'm incredibly relieved that he was able to be there for Maarva's funeral at all. It actually makes me even sadder that he didn't get to see her before she died because it's clear that she meant a lot to him. Seeing Cassian on Ferrix again really did help the season feel like it had come full circle.

Most of the episode focuses on Ferrix, as many of the characters from throughout the season return there. Mon Mothma's story line is really the only one that continues without going back to Ferrix. This whole season, she's felt a little distant from everything else. I know she's connected to Luthen and especially Vel, so she's not entirely separate, but comparatively speaking, she feels distant. She's the only one who doesn't know anything about Cassian for one.

Instead of worrying about Cassian or Ferrix, Mon accuses her husband of gambling in this episode. He insists that someone is lying to her, but it's obvious that she's the one lying because she wants to be overheard and have a cover story for the money that's been plaguing her all season. 

Not only is Mon Mothma's story more disconnected than the others, but it feels like it hasn't moved that much from episode one. She's hit a lot of road bumps, but she also hasn't been accused of anything yet. She's just taking precautions. People are watching her, and it's clear the tension is building. But it all feels like build up and not any direct action yet. I'm hoping that will change in season two.

We also do get a mention of the Empire defeating Kreegyr in this episode, but it's something we never get to see actually happen, which is basically what I expected.

I wasn't expecting this entire episode (almost) to be Maarva's funeral though. Even Luthen comes to Ferrix for it despite him trying to keep a low profile and the Empire being everywhere. The Empire and Luthen are both looking for Cassian. Syril's there too, but that I completely expected. I'm glad that Cassian did get to see a lot of the funeral because I wasn't sure if he'd come back to Ferrix either.

Maarva's speech that's played at the funeral was very fitting from the finale and was probably one of my favorite things about the episode. It causes a riot to erupt where a group attacks Dedra. Syril ends up saving her, so I'm guessing that she's going to be more open to working closely with him come season two. There whole relationship feels very off to me. I think it's mostly Syril's obsessive personality and the fact that he's already seemed like a stalker at several points in this season. Dedra's a villain, but seeing her get closer to Syril puts me on edge.

During the chaos that erupts at the end of the funeral, Cassian manages to get Bix out of the hotel, but she's in a terrible state. I'm worried about her mental state in season two. Cassian leaves her with a group of friends and promises to join them later, but I'm skeptical that it will happen any time soon.

Instead of joining them, Cassian goes to Luthen's ship. He gives Luthen the chance to either kill him or take him in. It ends like a cliffhanger, but having seen Rogue One, I'm pretty confident Cassian's not getting killed. Still, it does leave me excited to see what sort of work he does with the Resistance next season and whether or not he does end up reuniting with his fiends at all.

Honestly, my biggest wish for season two is more B2EMO. If he and Cassian are reunited at some point next season, then I'll be happy.

Andor 1x11 "Daughter of Ferrix" Review

At the start of the episode, Cassian is clinging to a cliff with Melshi. They're caught by two aliens who initially seem like they're going to kill them, but instead, they let them go. Cassian manages to get back to his money and retrieve it. All in all though, we don't actually see much of Cassian in this episode.

Maarva dies. I suspected that she would before seeing Cassian again, but it's still sad to have it happened. B2EMO made it even sadder by refusing to leave the house. I feel like I always get especially attached to the droids.

Vel goes to Luthen's shop and talks to Kleya, who's really angry that she's come. They have such a tense exchange that after this episode and the previous one where they interacted, I get the feeling that Kleya has hated Vel for a long time.

After that, Vel goes to Mon Mothma's house and finds Mon's daughter doing some tradition that involves her and a bunch of other girls chanting things. Apparently, she's gotten into the tradition, which is kind of strange since I would have expected her age and the fact that they don't even live on their home planet to mean that she would be less interested in traditions like that.

Luthen goes to visit Saw, who says that he's willing to help Kreegyr. Luthen tells him not to and admits the plan to sacrifice Kreegyr. While leaving, Luthen is stopped by an imperial ship. He gets away, but I'm curious if that leads the Empire to him somehow.

At the end of the episode, Cassian finds out Maarva is dead, which is a heartbreaking scene, but I'm glad that he found out. He also splits up with Melshi, and I'm curious if we'll see him again in season one or not.

There's a lot happening now. There are so many stories going that they're a little all over the place. I'm hoping that they're going to start intersecting back together again soon. Especially since we're getting close to the end.

Book Review: Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries 2) by Martha Wells

Publisher: Tor.com
Published: May 8, 2018
Read from September 28 to November 8, 2022
Received: purchased

Synopsis from Goodreads:

It has a dark past--one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself “Murderbot." But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more. Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don’t want to know what the “A” stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue. What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks.

Review:

Two and a half years later, I finally got around to reading the second Murderbot Diaries book. I absolutely loved All Systems Red, and I never planned for it to take this long to get to the rest of the series. The bright side is that there are even more books now, and I can read all of them straight away.

I re-read All Systems Red before Artificial Condition to jog my memory, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I remembered. The story really stuck with me, so I was excited to move right on to the second one.

Aside from Murderbot, this book has an entirely different set of characters from All Systems Red. It was great to read about Murderbot again, but I have to admit that I did miss the rest of the cast from the first book.

That being said, I absolutely loved ART! It was fun seeing Murderbot connect with a bot as opposed to a human. I also just loved ART's personality, and the connection between ART and Murderbot helped show what technology is capable of in this universe in a new way.

This book also explored Murderbot's past more as it went back to the planet where it killed its crew. We learn that the massacre wasn't Murderbot's fault, which wasn't surprising to me. I'd never actually doubted that, but I'm glad Murderbot could have that confirmed. Still, it doesn't seem fully satisfied with the answers it got, which makes me curious about where it's going to go next in the third book.

I'm going to dive straight into reading the next book now. I'm definitely not waiting another two years!

Andor 1x10 "One Way Out" Review

With every episode, I'm getting more and more into Andor. I'm liking this second half of the season far more than I did the first.

Cassian and the other prisoners finally break out of the prison. I was on the edge of my seat for the whole thing. I got way more into it than I did the thing at Aldhani. 

Kino not being able to swim was a nice twist at the end. (I'm a little surprised that every single one of the others seemed to be able to though. Surely at least a few others would have drowned even if they tried swimming.) I wonder what will happen to him.

Mon Mothma invites Davo to her house. He's willing to help her with her money, but in exchange, he wants his son to marry her daughter. I like this development because I have a feeling we're going to exlore more about marriage on Chandrila and also about Mon Mothma's own marriage.

The big surprise is that one of the supervisors working with Dedra, Lonni, is actually working for Luthen. I didn't see that coming. I'm curious about his backstory, especially since he and Luthen talk about an oath that they both took. I wonder how they met and how Lonni got involved.

Luthen also wants to sacrifice Kreegyr, which illustrates his mindset towards defeating the Empire. That makes a lot of sense when it comes to what we've seen so far. I don't really question is driving motivation anymore. I do think he genuinely wants to bring down the Empire, which I wasn't completely positive of before.

Now that Cassian is out of the prison, I'm excited to see what happens next.

Andor 1x09 "Nobody's Listening!" Review

With Cassian stuck in jail, I wasn't sure what to expect going forward, but I'm really hooked on Andor now. It's nice because for the first half or so of the season I was having trouble getting into it. That's not a problem anymore.

Bix is tortured by being forced to listen to people dying. Not just people actually. They've pulled out recordings of children to make it even more cruel. We don't get to hear the sounds themselves, but that makes it even more chilling.

While the torturer, mentions the effects the sounds have on people, I'm curious about the people who actually did the slaughtering. There's no mention of them. Were they unable to hear the calls as they were murdering everyone? If they have the effect that they supposedly do, you'd think it would have made them incapable of murdering them all.

Cassian wastes no time in getting to work with other inmates to plan an escape. Those plans hit a road bump when they learn that a whole unit was killed because a released inmate was sent back into the prison. Now it seems that none of them will ever be released.

But already at the end of the episode, we can see the leader of Cassian's floor become energized and determined to help them all break out. It seems like their plan to keep everyone locked up forever is going to backfire by making them more determined than ever to get out. I look forward to seeing how they do it.

Vel comes to visit Mon Mothma, and it seems like they're longtime friends. I like seeing how all of the characters are connected even more. Mon's husband tells Vel she needs to find a widower husband and continues to make himself look even worse somehow.

I know that he and Mon got married young, but the more we see of him, the more that not even that fully explains how she ended up married to him. Was he different back then? Was she pressured into it? I feel like there's still more of a story to tell there.

Syril manages to get even creepier this episode when he stalks Dedra. She even calls him out for stalking, and the excuses he gives for why it's not stalking are exactly what a stalker would say. There's a strange dynamic there that I'm not sure what to make of. Syril definitely seems to have an obsessive personality, and I'm curious about how much that's going to turn to Dedra as well as Cassian.

I'm looking forward to the next episode.

Andor 1x08 "Narkina 5" Review

This episode of Andor has to be my favorite yet, but it also wasn't what I was expecting at all.

I don't know why I was convinced there was going to be a time skip after the last episode, but I was. Something about how things ended left me feeling like we wouldn't be seeing any of the characters again for a few years, but it turns out that wasn't the case. Things pick up right where they left off, and I'm happy about that because I found this episode very interesting.

Cassian is sent to Narkina 5 for his sentence. It's a factory where they have to work twelve hour shifts. What struck me most about the setting wasn't the factory floor but their cells. They don't have any doors, but during the night, the floor will get "hot" and kills anyone who steps foot on it. It's far more gruesome than have doors, and even on Cassian's first night someone dies. 

Meanwhile, Syril gets questioned by Dedra, who's zeroing in on Cassian. He begs her to help, but she sends him back to the Bureau of Standards. Despite that, I don't think it will be the last we see of him.

We learn a bit of backstory about Mon Mothma and her husband. It turns out that they got married as teenagers, which is the custom on the planet they're from. It does explain a lot about how they're together despite being so different, and I'm thankful for that explanation because it's been bothering me since we met her husband.

Back on Ferrix, Bix is taking care of Maarva, who's fallen and is ill. I was hoping that Cassian and Maarva would be reunited, so now I'm worried that she'll die before he sees her again.

Vel and Cinta are also on Ferrix, and we get some tidbits about their backstory. In particular, we learn that Vel comes from a rich family, which does seem to fit her characterization so far. I actually wonder if she and Luthen are related in some way or, at the very least, knew each other socially somehow. 

This episode also made me curious about Vel and Cinta's relationship. Cinta mentions that she's a mirror for Vel, and she says it in a way that is very accusing. Vel has seemed almost obsessive about what Cinta is doing at certain points, but that is potentially explained by the high stakes situations they've been in. Now I wonder if it's more. This episode seemed to imply that Vel likes Cinta more than Cinta likes Vel, so I guess we'll see how that plays out.

Luthen goes to see Saw Gerrera, which is a nice surprise. Luthen is trying to convince him to join forces with similar groups around a joint cause. During this conversation, Saw makes a comment about never really know who Luthen is, and this reinforces my distrust for him. 

I go back and forth on Luthen a lot. His indentions seem genuine sometimes, but other times, it feels like he's hiding something. There are some indirections between Luthen and Kleya where I can't tell which of them is actually in charge.

There's a lot happening and a lot of characters we're following. Thinking back on the episode really makes me realize how little we actually get of certain characters during the episode. I'm curious to see how their stories intertwine more in the coming episodes.