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Marvelous Mysteries: The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses and A Most Puzzling Murder

11 Jun

The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses
by Malka Older
I’m a huge fan of Malka Older’s Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti novella series. Set in a post apocalyptic colony on Jupiter after Earth is no longer inhabitable the series is a cozy space opera mystery sapphic romance series which despite their short length still pose interesting ideas about love, the resilience of humanity, and the push pull between honoring the past and looking towards our future endeavors. Pleiti, a professor, and Mossa, a detective, in the two previous books had renewed their romantic relationship from back in their college days, but now in The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses, Mossa has been growing distant and seems uninterested in helping the sister of another of their old school friends who has been accused of plagiarism so Pleiti must solve the mystery on her own. But when the case turns out to have a more dangerous aspect than at first it seemed Pleiti wonders if she might be in over her head. Though part of me didn’t want to see Mossa and Pleiti’s romance in question, I think for the characters this felt like a realistic hurdle that they would need to face. I like how this novel shakes up both characters out of their comfort zones and allows them to grow individually.

A Most Puzzling Murder
Bianca Marais
The latest from Canadian author, Bianca Marais, is an intriguing novel which provides puzzles not only for its protagonist, but also for the readers to solve, which can reward them with a bonus scene (hints and even solutions are provided for those that need them). Destiny Whip, a reclusive former child prodigy, is intrigued when she gets a letter to interview for a position of the Scruffmore’s family historian which she never applied for. Set in a castle there are elements of the gothic as Destiny tries to stop the murder of one of the family and determine who the perpetrator might be. For those reading the audiobook, ebook or library version Marais provides printable versions of the puzzles for readers on her website. I had fun trying to solve the puzzles as well as reading this supernatural mystery novel that has plenty of juicy family drama. I liked how the chose your own aspect plays with the idea of some events being fated while others can take dramatically different turns depending on a small change. If like me, you enjoyed the “choose your own adventure books” as a tween, than you’ll find a lot of fun nostalgia in the participatory elements of reading this story.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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Two Out of this World Reads by John Scalzi: When the Moon Hits Your Eye and Old Man’s War

26 Mar

When the Moon Hits Your Eye
by John Scalzi
Science Fiction legend, John Scalzi’s latest takes a nod from the classic crooner song That’s Amore and wonders what would happen if one day the moon didn’t just look like Swiss cheese due to its craters, but one day actually was cheese. When the Moon Hits Your Eye, is an epistolary novel with bits of
ephemera including newspaper articles and transcripts of presentations by experts that occurred when the moon went from being rocks to suddenly being made of cheese. Most of the novel occurs close to when the change happened, but starts fast-forwarding in time towards the end of the story. The many perspectives range from astronauts to religious leaders, which gives added reality to such an outlandish premise and how different people would come to accept the new way of the world. There are some very funny sections and very cheesy puns and also some very touching moments. My favorite day/chapter was about a woman who has always wanted to be a writer since she was a young girl, but got so trapped in wanting her novel to be perfect she kept rewriting and workshopping the same few paragraphs over and over; the moon incident finally gives her the nudge she needs. This may not appeal to some hard Science Fiction fans since the cheese moon’s behavior is only loosely reality based, but for those that like to see a master story teller’s imagination take flight, this will be a delight.

Old Man’s War
by John Scalzi
We read Scalzi’s classic novel, The Old Man’s War for our January Hoboken Library Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Discussion. We had previously read his novels Red Shirts and Kaiju Preservation Society, making him currently the most read author for the group. His creative stories and fun humor make him popular with the group members. Old Man’s War takes the idea of Starship Troopers where military service is necessary to protect human colonies and allow people to expand beyond earth, but asks what would it be like if those doing the fighting weren’t young people, but senior citizens given new and improved bodies but all of their previous life experience still in their mind. Like the other novels we read this one is filled with humor, which reminded me more of the Starship Troopers film than book. But it also asks some philosophical questions about what makes us human and the ethics of expanding one’s life beyond its natural period which lead to an interesting discussion. There are several more books in the series if you enjoy Old Man’s War including The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony, and Zoe’s Tale. If you are interested you can join us in April for our next book discussion.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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