The Heir by Kiera Cass

(Spoilers for The Selection, The Elite, and The One.)

Goodreads synopsis: Princess Eadlyn has grown up hearing endless stories about how her mother and father met. Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won the heart of Prince Maxon—and they lived happily ever after. Eadlyn has always found their fairy-tale story romantic, but she has no interest in trying to repeat it. If it were up to her, she'd put off marriage for as long as possible.

But a princess's life is never entirely her own, and Eadlyn can't escape her very own Selection—no matter how fervently she protests.

Eadlyn doesn't expect her story to end in romance. But as the competition begins, one entry may just capture Eadlyn's heart, showing her all the possibilities that lie in front of her . . . and proving that finding her own happily ever after isn't as impossible as she's always thought.

My rating: 3 stars.

Content warnings: PG. Some kissing, mild brief violence.

(Spoilers for The Heir)

Thoughts: I wasn't expecting much from this really. I couldn't remember much about the first three books, so I had no frame of reference for if they were in any way decent or not. I picked it up in a last minute library run cause I felt like getting something. But really, it could have been worse.

It's a weird series of books though, I remember that now. The world is actually pretty interesting and I'd love to see more of it. But the focus is obviously the Bachelor-style competition thing and that takes way too much attention away from the really interesting political scheme of the world building. It's almost like the books don't exactly know what they're trying to be, and that's kinda sad.

That being said, if the competition is going to be the focus of the books, I do wish it wasn't painfully obvious from chapter 2 who she's going to end up with. Not like that's even official by the end of this book, but I will be very very surprised if it's not Hunk Man #1. (And books pretty much never surprise me like that.)

Like I mentioned with the world, there are some things about the book that are super interesting. And I actually appreciated some of the not quite happily ever after plot points left from the previous three books. Especially with the breaking down of the caste system. Do I think this could have led to an even more interesting breakdown of political ideas, and showing how media can be used to distract us from real issues? Definitely. Is there still time for this to happen in the last book? Yeah, probably. Do I actually think it's going to go there? Not really. Which is unfortunate. But for people like me who read into things, it's at least thought provoking, even though I very much think it could have been done better.

It's not something super new or interesting by any means, but it's not bad either. It's like watching an hour of crappy reality television once in a while. Not the worst thing you could do, kinda relaxing in its stupidity, and definitely not something that's worth being the only thing watched.

The Truth About Us by Brant Hansen

Goodreads synopsis: What would happen if you admitted you weren't a good person?
It's a seemingly crazy question. From priests to prisoners, nearly everyone thinks they're morally better than average. Why change our minds? Why admit the truth about ourselves?

In his conversational, fun-to-read, and delightfully self-effacing style, Brant Hansen shows us why we should fight our drive to be self-righteous: it's breathtakingly freeing. What's more, just admitting that we're profoundly biased toward ourselves and want desperately to preserve our "rightness" at all costs even helps us think better, make better decisions, be better listeners, and improve our relationships with God and others.

Hansen draws from biblical insight and the work of everyone from esteemed social psychologists to comedians to make his point: the sooner we get over ourselves, give up the "I'm good" internal dialogue, and admit the truth, the sooner we can live a more lighthearted, fruitful, fun-loving life.
This book is about the freedom of childlike humility.

After all, as Hansen writes, the humble life is truly your best one.

My rating: 5 stars

Content warnings: G. One use of "bastards."

Thoughts: If only it were as easy to put this stuff into practice as it is to just read about it.

It's a rare book that can be so stark and honest about who we are as human beings, but still be so easy to read and even enjoyable. It's not a "feel good" book, by any means, but you also don't walk away feeling depressed and hopeless. But Brant is able to do that so well.

Through stories, illustrations, and some Muppets examples, Brant is able to hold a mirror up to humanity as a whole, and show who we really are underneath everything. And through scripture, he illustrates why Jesus is such good news for all of us who are willing to recognize and admit to our shortcomings. It's in equal parts convicting and encouraging, and realizing and remembering the truths pointed to can be helpful in all aspects of life. But especially in relating to others as well.

It's definitely going to be a reread for me. But that's not really a surprise.

The Witch's Boy by Kelly Barnhill

Goodreads synopsis: When Ned and his identical twin brother Tam tumble from their raft into a raging, bewitched river, only Ned survives. Villagers are convinced the wrong boy lived. Sure enough, Ned grows up weak and slow, and stays as much as possible within the safe boundaries of his family’s cottage and yard. But when a Bandit King comes to steal the magic that Ned’s mother, a witch, is meant to protect, it's Ned who safeguards the magic and summons the strength to protect his family and community.

In the meantime, in another kingdom across the forest that borders Ned’s village lives Áine, the resourceful and pragmatic daughter of the Bandit King. She is haunted by her mother’s last words to her: “The wrong boy will save your life and you will save his.” But when Áine and Ned’s paths cross, can they trust each other long enough to make their way through the treacherous woods and stop the war about to boil over?

With a deft hand, acclaimed author Kelly Barnhill takes classic fairy tale elements--speaking stones, a friendly wolf, and a spoiled young king--and weaves them into a richly detailed narrative that explores good and evil, love and hate, magic, and the power of friendship.

My rating: 1 star.

Content warnings: PG. Some middle grade violence, odd undefined magic.

Thoughts: I feel a little harsh giving this only one star, but I will heavily emphasize that my rating comes as a result of my own personal tastes. Barnhill may be a good writer, and certainly plenty of other people think so. But this story did nothing for me.

I don't really understand how the magic worked, and if I don't understand the magic I've found I have a hard time getting into a story. But even so. I didn't really even know what was going on with the story, and I didn't really care about any of the characters or any of the action. I'm not even sure what happened in the end, or why I should care. Granted I was skimming at that point so that I could say I finished.

Middle grade books just normally don't do much for me. The writing and the characters are an odd melding between complex, but still very flat, and the general style in most that I've read feels more juvenile than I like. It feels like being talked down to most of the time, rather than being an age appropriate story. So maybe if someone liked middle grade, they would like this one. But I couldn't get into it, and the one thing I picked up the book for wasn't really in there at all. So it just wasn't for me.

Archaeology From Space by Sarah Parcak

Goodreads synopsis: National Geographic Explorer and TED Prize-winner Dr. Sarah Parcak welcomes you to the exciting new world of space archaeology, a growing field that is sparking extraordinary discoveries from ancient civilizations across the globe.

In Archaeology from Space, Sarah Parcak shows the evolution, major discoveries, and future potential of the young field of satellite archaeology. From surprise advancements after the declassification of spy photography, to a new map of the mythical Egyptian city of Tanis, she shares her field’s biggest discoveries, revealing why space archaeology is not only exciting, but urgently essential to the preservation of the world’s ancient treasures.

Parcak has worked in twelve countries and four continents, using multispectral and high-resolution satellite imagery to identify thousands of previously unknown settlements, roads, fortresses, palaces, tombs, and even potential pyramids. From there, her stories take us back in time and across borders, into the day-to-day lives of ancient humans whose traits and genes we share. And she shows us that if we heed the lessons of the past, we can shape a vibrant future.

My rating: 3 stars.

Content warnings: PG. A few swears, mentions of historical violence.

Thoughts: If I had understood more than half of it, I probably would have rated it higher. But as it was, it was still enjoyable.

I did think it was going to be a little more about, well. Space archaeology. Though I'm not sure if that would have made it more or less difficult to read. It was more of an archaeology overview, with a mention of space archaeology in a couple points. Or maybe I was missing something.

But Parcak's passion and love for what she does shines through everything. I don't know if I would have made it through the book if not for her excitement over what she was writing about, and that shone through every page. If for nothing else, reading the prologue and first chapter might be worth it just to feel that excitement for something.

It was difficult to understand sometimes, just because it got kinda technical, but if you know more than I do about archaeology it's probably a pretty great read.

The Toll by Neal Shusterman

(spoilers for Scythe and Thunderhead.)

Goodreads synopsis: It’s been three years since Rowan and Citra disappeared; since Scythe Goddard came into power; since the Thunderhead closed itself off to everyone but Grayson Tolliver.

In this pulse-pounding conclusion to New York Times bestselling author Neal Shusterman’s Arc of a Scythe trilogy, constitutions are tested and old friends are brought back from the dead.

My rating: 1 star.

(spoilers for The Toll.)

Content warnings: PG-13. Mild cursing, one random f-word, characters couple, nudity in a questionable situation, mass murders, a character is about to be burned alive, someone gets a hole ripped through their body, low blood/high body count, non binary character used just for the points, a religion could be a parallel for Christianity and is used as an object of ridicule, an AI program gets creepy, someone is "possessed" by the program without their consent.

Thoughts: It's painfully obvious the author had no idea what he was doing with this book. There are so many things wrong I'm not even going to get into all the problems with this book, but oh where to begin.

The timeline. What the heck was up with that? Shusterman said it was because there was too much to cover, if he hadn't been at different points in the timeline then Rowan and Citra wouldn't have been revived until 400 pages in, blah, blah, blah. I don't even remember what was important about the jumpy timeline. You could easily have had five ish chapters of Greyson becoming the Toll, and maybe Faraday doing... whatever it was he was doing. And then get to the revival point. The whole senseless timeline was completely pointless and took me forever to get through.

It really bothered me how the Tonists were portrayed. I had noticed a few issues in the prior books, but in this one it went way overboard. I see what he was trying to do, and I don't appreciate it in the slightest.

Thunderhead. I really loved the benevolent AI that Scythe created. You don't ever seem to see that. And it didn't go haywire. So instead of going crazy and trying to take over the world, Thunderhead did the exact opposite. And let the world kill itself because it "couldn't break its own laws" or whatever. Which was really just a cop out to... let the world burn, I guess?

And what happened to Thunderhead anyway? I cannot understand its reasoning at all for cutting itself off from the entire world except Greyson, and to keep it up for that long makes absolutely no sense. Plus, why Greyson? What made him special? Nothing, as far as I can tell.

And then it got creepy. Maybe I see child predators a little too easily (see Digory's uncle in The Magician's Nephew) but the way Thunderhead was described as watching Greyson, and the way it kinda tried to interact with him made me super uncomfortable. And it would have been entirely possible to write the same scenes without that creeping perverted feeling. But the author didn't go for that, and the way it was written gave me heavy molester vibes, even though there's nothing physically the Thunderhead could have done. It's still never an idea you want to give an audience about something we're supposedly supposed to like.

There were way too many characters to keep track of. I don't remember probably half of them, and those that I do remember, really didn't have any point. Morrison and Jeri were really only the two new characters that meant anything to the story, and they could have been done way better. Not that any of the characters were really written well.

As a side note on Jeri, I had expected something worse. Yeah, the character wasn't done well, but then no one really was. At least there wasn't a whole sermon every time he opened his mouth. (That's how he seemed written to me, and he doesn't even care about pronouns, so that's what you're getting.) As far as characters on that spectrum go, I've seen a lot worse. I don't think there was a point to it, but it usually didn't needlessly call attention to itself.

On the topic of character portrayal, I really started to notice in this book that Rowan and Greyson are basically the same character, just used differently. It was a little in the back of my mind in Thunderhead, but it was pretty apparent here. Which is annoying and kinda disappointing. One is great, and I do like Rowan, but you don't need two male characters with very similar personalities who are both being used and manipulated by a greater force.

Speaking of Rowan, through this whole series he's given a whole new meaning to the "my favorite character always dies" thing.

Rowan's ending really annoyed me. Leave him the freak alone, Thunderhead, you've already ruined his life enough. Let him be the same age as Citra when they get there.

The entire resolution of the plot was just pathetic. They solved nothing. The main characters literally just ran away from their problems, and we're supposed to be happy about that? Why? After building this entire series up to a major fight with the Goddard hybrid, in the end all they do is run away and let him blow up another island. Sure he dies, but by Rand's hand?? Really? There is no real justice in there, she only did it so she could replace his mind and finally have the boy toy she wanted since recruiting Tyger.

Not happy that she's given an implied happy ending either, but I choose to believe alive Tyger hybrid will realize she's a terrible person and run away from her soon enough.

I am glad that Greyson walked away from Thunderhead. For reasons stated above. It may be the only thing I appreciated about the ending, but at least there was something.

What's even more frustrating is that I got a special edition of this book (because I thought it would hold up) that includes an author commentary section in the back. And he thinks he did fantastically well with the final book. I have no idea how, or how this made it through beta reading without being completely torn apart and rewritten, but here we are. You're not clever, Shusterman. You're an idiot. Not even those red herrings you were so proud of actually fooled anyone.

It was just an entirely unsatisfying ending to a series that started out so strongly. The first two books were fantastic in my opinion, I'm not sure how Shusterman managed to so spectacularly crash and burn, but here we are. I'm just going to pretend this book never existed.