Life is swirling around me like the autumn leaves before a stiff wind. Still, nothing can get in the way of me finding a minute or two for a good read. This month I found three worth sharing.
Lexicon
I picked up Lexicon by Max Barry because it had been praised by one of my favorite authors. We clearly have different tastes in fiction.
Having said that, I can see why so many people have enjoyed this novel. The concept is simple, but fascinating. Words have the power to persuade, and have been used for centuries, back when those who used words for their own gain were called sorcerers.
They’re still around, and active. Emily Ruff recruited into a secret organization because she has some kind of talent for language. She’s not sure what it means to become a poet, as they call themselves. But they appear to be set on taking over the world, through the power of words.
The story isn’t told chronologically, which makes things a little confusing, as do the constant shifts from Emily’s story to that of Wil, who was kidnapped from an airport. His captors claim people are out to kill him because he survived something he shouldn’t have. The problem is he has no idea what they are talking about.
This is one thing that makes this book a little difficult. Both Wil and Emily are swept up into events that they don’t understand. Since the reader is seeing through their eyes, the reader has no clue either. Much of the story is about Wil and Emily trying to figure it all out.
Which actually made for more interesting reading. I kept trying to guess along with them.
It’s a suspenseful thriller, well-written although a little heavy on the cursing. Lexicon would be a fun read for anyone who enjoys gritty, action packed speculative fiction.
Shudder
Shudder is the second in the Stitch trilogy by Samantha Duarte. I read the first one a few years ago, always meaning to come back and read the rest.
Shudder didn’t disappoint. It continues Alessa’s adventures after her escape from Paragon. She’s conflicted about trying to help the rebellion to overthrow the oppressors, wanting to just take the only people she has left with her somewhere safe.
But she has to face the facts that safety won’t be that easy to find. She has no idea if the virus that took out most of humanity is still circulating, and she’s followed by strange, sub-human beasts and plagued by disturbing flashbacks. Slowly she begins to learn what’s really going on, and faces greater horrors than she imagined.
A Pair of Docks
Jennifer Sinclair’s time travel novel is a fun read with lots of twists and turns. Fourteen-year-old Abbey Sinclair and her brothers accidentally find a portal to other times. After one of the brothers starts receiving strange and vaguely ominous emails, Abbey and her brothers set of trying to find out what the portal is for. When they realize that their mildly autistic neighbor may hold the key to understanding the portal, things only get more complicated.