The title of Stuart Turton’s third novel, The Last Murder at the End of the World, sounds compelling, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, I did not find the murder mystery aspect of this novel to be very compelling, which is too bad because I love a good mystery. There are other aspects of the novel that I did find interesting, though, but it may not be reason enough to read this novel if you are not already a fan of Turton’s.
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The Ministry of Time is Kaliane Bradley’s debut novel. I love time travel stories, and there has been a lot of buzz around this book, so I decided to buy it. I absolutely loved The Ministry of Time and can see it on my short list of favourite books of 2024. I made the mistake of going onto Goodreads (ugh) and checking out the reviews on there, and I am baffled by the number of one-star reviews, as well as the false accusations of plagiarism against this book because it shares the same name as the Spanish TV show El Ministerio del Tiempo. As someone who has seen El Ministerio del Tiempo AND read The Ministry of Time, I can assure you that there is no plagiarism involved. Both are delightful to watch/read.
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Obviously, I bought Starter Villain because of the adorable and dapper-looking cat on the front cover. And because the novel features talking spy cats. If you enjoy unserious sci-fi/supervillain stories – and cats – then you will enjoy this novel.
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How High We Go in the Dark is a novel that reads as a collection of short stories. I am not the biggest fan of the short story genre, but I loved this collection of stories. Each story is a continuation of the overarching theme of the devastating impact of climate change on humanity, and certain characters recur throughout the stories as well as easter eggs from preceding stories. I found this novel to be sad, but now that I have read it, I find myself feeling hopeful that human connections will ultimately prevail and save us.
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If you are fascinated by stories about time travel, then I think you may enjoy Atomic Anna. I find time travel to be fascinating, and I love debating the ethics of time travel (since it is still a theoretical concept). But Atomic Anna is not merely a story about time travel, it is also a multigenerational story about a family populated by strong, brilliant women. If you are expecting some pulpy sci-fi story, you are not going to find it in Atomic Anna. Atomic Anna is better than that.
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The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is my last completed book of 2022, and the third novel by Silvia Moreno-Garcia that I have read this year, after Mexican Gothic and Velvet Was the Night. Out of the three, I like this novel this best. If you are familiar with the works of H. G. Wells, then you will immediately realize that The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is inspired by The Island of Doctor Moreau. I have read The Island of Doctor Moreau, so long ago, though, that I cannot remember if I read it in high school or college, and I only have a vague recollection of not liking it and feeling sorry for Doctor Moreau’s hybrid creatures. On the other hand, I enjoyed reading The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, although I still feel sorry for the hybrids.
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I was a little worried that this one would end up being a dud, but I am pleased to report that The Book Eaters is a good novel. I think bibliophiles like me will really like this one. It is a bit on the nose with respect to its themes, but it’s characters and world-building are interesting enough to make you overlook the obviousness of the novel.
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I watched Lovecraft Country the TV show on HBO back in 2020 and thought it was pretty good. It is too bad the TV show was cancelled before it got a second season. I have had Lovecraft Country the novel on which the TV show is based sitting in my TBR pile for a long time and finally got around to reading it. It is too bad I took so long to read it because I really enjoyed the novel and was disappointed that it had to end. As is usually the case, I thought the novel was better than the TV show.
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Imagine a world where women have all the power and men learn to become afraid of them; that is the premise of The Power by Naomi Alderman. In The Power, females are discovered to have the latent ability to conduct electricity and release it through their fingers. This power suddenly becomes activated in teenage girls, who can then awaken the power in older women. Women start weaponizing the power against men, and it flips the gender narrative in favour of women. But would the world be a better place if women were in control? The Power is an interesting and thought-provoking novel that posits an answer to that question that I think misandrists are going to hate.
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I picked up Cloud Cuckoo Land rather impulsively from Costco a few weeks ago. I was definitely interested in reading it at some point as it is a novel that involves multiple timelines and multiple characters that are somehow all interconnected, but I did not intend on reading it so soon because my TBR pile is completely out of control. This novel sounded just too interesting to put off, though. Thematically, it was not what I was expecting as it is a novel about the destructiveness of human nature, specifically as it has manifested in climate change. But it is also about finding hope for our future. I cannot say that I one hundred percent enjoyed reading Cloud Cuckoo Land as it triggered my climate anxiety, but it is a fascinating and richly told novel. It is also long; it took me about two weeks of pre-bedtime reading to get through it.
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