Karen Bao

Mix science fiction, good old desperation detective work, and an enemies to more-than-friends situation. This is what you get. Ver and Aryl are different physically, but inside there's plenty of commonality. Ver is fighting a terrible genetic disease that's going to eat away until she's dead. Aryl is tall, quite graceful, and an accomplished dancer. Both are interns in an advanced lab, working for Cal who is both brilliant and driven. When an emergency warning is activated and the lights go out, Cal is injected with a substance that kills him. Both girls are accused of his murder, but neither had reason to off their mentor. How they go about solving his murder makes for a dandy story.… (lisätietoja)

I’ve been in a sci-fi mood lately, and this book happened to be lying in my office, waiting to be reviewed. So, I thought: “What the hell. Two birds, one stone … Let’s do this!” and I got on with reading Dove Arising by Karen Bao. Honestly though, I’ve been putting off reading this book, due to the horrendous cover art. I mean, look at that pathetic, amateurish cover! Some of the cover art I make for independent publishers who can’t afford professional cover artists’ fees looks better than this train wreck. What’s worse, this is what an imprint of Penguin Books USA came up with? WTF? Oh, and don’t get me started on the formatting. Note to the editor-in-chief at Viking Books: Y’all better get your shit together and fix this travesty if you want to sell books.

Rant over.

What I could figure out, prior to actually reading the book, was that it was something akin to The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer mixed with James Dashner‘s The Maze Runner. It sounded … interesting. I mean, I love The Lunar Chronicles, but The Maze Runner kind of fell short at some point. Anywho, so I read Dove Arising, and let me just say a LOT happens in a very short time. This isn’t a bad thing. Yes, I’m sure many readers might not enjoy how fast the story is, what with the conflict, the drama, the rush of words, and the inevitable oh crap! moment at the end, but I personally found it quite a ride. At times it was somewhat predictable, though, but for a debut I think it was a rather fun read.

Phaet is a strong protagonist, although I wanted to strangle her at times, but I forgave her because she is only fifteen years old. Wes was … well, I wish he was more than he is, because he was terribly predictable, but I liked him nonetheless. Umbriel, on the other hand, reminds me of a young Christian Gray. He’s way too controlling. Seriously, I hope someone kills him sooner rather than later. And yes, this marks the beginning of a love-triangle. Shocker. Okay, what did you expect, Monique? It’s a young adult read!

All those things aside, I’m looking forward to the next book. I want to see where Karen Bao is taking this story, and if the sci-fi is going to go full-blown dystopian… We’ll see.

This book is perfect for young adult readers in search of a science fiction fix.… (lisätietoja)

Young adult dystopia with the predictable story arc and romantic triangle.

I was not a fan of how much the narrator explains everything, especially at the start of the book but never entirely abating. It feels particularly odd because (once you get past that a fair way) it becomes clear that the character herself has a lot more nuance and complexity to her.

Also clunky was how over-competent both she and her brother are and, for that matter, how ridiculously quickly the military apparently promote new graduates. But I like the focus on family, and the worldbuilding (inspired by the author's parents' experience of the Cultural Revolution).… (lisätietoja)